HISTORY of CONWAY 

(Massachusetts) 

1767-1917 



BY 

The People of Conway 

Rev. Charles Stanley Pease, A.M. 
Editor 



Springfield Printing and Binding Company 

Springfield. Massachusetts 

1917 






■^l 



■■■'9 

/ 



To the Memory of 

Henry W. Billings, Esq 

1826—1915 
F i f t y - f o u r \' e a r s Town Clerk 



THE FAITHFUL PUBLIC SERVANT 
THE TRUSTED COUNSELLOR 
AND FRIEND OF EVERY ONE 



This Work is Respectfully 
Dedicated 



PREFACE 



In the su-iTiier of 1900 Mr. Frederick C. Pierce of Chicago, 
author of the Field and other genealogies, visited Conway and 
began the preparation of a history of the town. He secured 
a mass of material which he. proposed to publish in Iwo xolumes. 
Lack of financial support delayed the publication until the 
author's death in 1903. His estate proved to be insohent 
and after unsuccessful attempts to sell the manuscript it was 
deposited with the town of Conway by permission of the Judge 
of Probate. 

At the annual town meeting in 1914 a committee consisting 
of Rev. E. L. Chute, H. W. Billings, A. P. Delabarre, C. F. Elmer, 
and C. L. Parsons was appointed to arrange for a celebration 
of the 150th anniversary of Conway in 1917. Mr. Billings 
died in 1915 and Rex. Charles S. Pease was elected to fill the 
vacancy. In 1916 Mr. Chute removed from town and Mr. 
Alvin C. Boice succeeded him on the committee. This com- 
mittee was authorized by the town to publish a brief history of 
Conway based upon the Pierce manuscript and Re\'. Charles S. 
Pease was appointed editor for that purpose. 

In the task of preparing a history for pul)lication the editor 
has been assisted by those whose names appear at the head' of 
the various chapters. Much of the material in the Pierce 
manuscript proved to be of doubtful historical value and all 
of it was in need of careful revision. Each author has accord- 
ingly made independent researches and has written his chapter 
or section in his own way. The Genealogy has been carefully 
revised and to a large extent rearranged. The chapter on the 
first centurv was taken from the historv of Conwav's centennial 



8 PREFACE. 

and the chapter on the Field Library is a memorial which 
Dr. Rice prepared by request of the Field family. The chapter 
on useful men and women was written expressly for the Pierce 
history. 

The illustrations have been contributed by different people, 
but we are especially indebted to the Misses Frances and Mary 
Allen of Old Deerfield for the use of a series of photographs 
taken about 1890, and to Miss Florence Rowland of Conway 
for pictures of more recent date. 

The committee has not attempted to produce a complete 
history of Conway. This would be impossible. The aim has 
been rather to prepare a readable and reasonably comprehensive 
account of the past one hundred and fifty years. The work 
has been a labor of love by Conway people, who without literary 
experience and with little time at their disposal for such employ- 
ment have simply tried to make a permanent record of the 
more important facts in the history of the town. 

The Editor. 
Conway, Mass., March 7, 1917. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Chapter I. — Previous to Incorporation. 

By Edward C. Billings. Pages 

Pocumtuck and the Frontier — ^King Philip's War — Queen Anne's War 
— The "Old French War" — Fort Massachusetts— The Bars Fight 
— The Seven Years' War — Massacre of William llenr>-— Conway 
Set Off, 15-28 

Chapter II. — The First Centiry. 
By Rev. Charles B. Rice, D.D. 
The Settlement of Conway — Frontier Life — The First Church- 
Schools — Cemeteries — Roads — Localities — Clothing — War — 
Population — Industries — Politics — Professional Men — Destruc- 
tive Fires — Old Farms, 29-72 

Chapter III. — Fifty Years More. 
By Rev. Charles S. Pease. 
The Conway Centennial — ^Prosperous Conditions — Railroad Sur- 
veys — Electric Street Railway — Telegraph and Telephone — 
Improved Mail Service — Automobiles — Celebration of National 
Centennial — -Patriotic and Social Organizations — Disasters — 
Cemeteries — Town Ofificials — Physicians — • Population — Farm 
and Farm Life — The Outlook — Biograjihical Sketches, 73-101 

Chapter I\'.— The Natural Features of Conw.w. 
By Florence Mabel Pease. 
The Beauty of Conway — E.xtensive Views — -Rivers and Brooks — 
Wildwood Park — Geological Features — The Glacier Lake — 
Large Trees — Flowers and Ferns, 102-107 

Chapter V.— ^Business and Industry. 
By Edward Affhauser. 
Farm Products — The Creamery — Manufacturing — Gristmills — Saw- 
Mills — Brickyards — Tanneries — Cotton Mills — Woolen Mills — 
Shoe Shop — Tap and Die Shop — Other Manufactories — Stores — 
Wagon Makers — Stage Drivers — Taverns — Harness Shops- 
Newspapers — Post Ofifice — Electric Street Railway — Electric 
Light Company — Banks and Banking, 109-126 



10 CONTENTS. 

Chapter \T. — The Churches. 

CONGREGATIONAL, By Rev. Edward L. Chute. Pages 

Beginning of Public Worship — The First Minister — Succeeding Pas- 
tors — Work for Children — Members Recei^'ed — Mission and 
Benevolence — Meeting Houses, 129-135 

BAPTIST, By Rev. Charles S. Pease. 
Origin — Elder Keyes — List of Pastors — ^The First Meeting House — 
Location Changed — The Parsonage — Repairs and Improve- 
ments — Church Discipline — Clerks — Baptisms — Young People 
Trained for Service — The Church Closed, 135-146 

METHODIST, By Rev. Charles. S. Pease. 
Meetings in the South Part — Camp Meetings in Poland District — 
The Chapel — Meetings at Burkeville — Field's Hall — Building the 
Church — First Members — Pastors — Young Men Who Became 
Ministers — Official Members — Losses — Church Closed 146-152 

THE FEDERATED CHURCH, By Prof. Alvah J. Norman. 
Reason for the Federation — First Steps — Articles of Federation — 

The First Lhiited Service — Officers and Committees, 152-155 

SAINT MARK'S CHURCH, By Rev. P. H. Gallen. 
The First Catholic Service in Conway — Building the Church — A 
Mission of Shelburne Falls — A Mission of South Deerfield — 
Pastors, 155-156 

Ministers and Wives of Ministers Born in Conway 156-157 



Chapter YII. — The Schools. 
By Rev. W. F. Avery, in Part. 
Schools Required of Every Township — First ^Appropriation in Con- 
way — The First Schoolhouse — Master Cole — ^School Districts — 
Graded Schools — Superintendents — ^College Graduates — "Hill 
View" — Select Schools — Conway Academy — High School,. . 158-168 

Chapter VHL — The Field Memorial Library. 
By. Rev. Charles B. Rice, D.D. 
Field's Hill — The Field Family — Marshall Field — Town Libraries — ■ 
The Gift of a Memorial Library — -Laying the Corner Stone — 
Architecture of the Building — Dedication, 171-201 



CONTENTS. 11 

Chapter IX. — Military History. 

By Ri:v. Charles S. Pease. Pages 

The ReYoluiion, Minute Men, Other EnHstmeiits — War of 1812 — 
The Ci\il War, Recruiting, Total Enlistments by Regiments. 
Fallen Heroes — War with Sj)ain, .... 202-211 

Chapter X. — -Useful Men and Women. 

By Rev. W. F. Avery. 

Interesting Reminiscences of the Various Neighborhoods of the 

Town and the Prominent Families in Former Generations. 

A Remarkable List of Conway Young Peoi)le Who Became 

Eminent in Professional and Business Life 212-238 

FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 
Revised and Arranged by Miss Ada Patrick. 
Genealogical Sketches of the Families That Came to Conwa\- during 

the First One Hundred Years, 241-345 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The V^illage from Parsons' Hill, Frontispiece 

Main Street Looking West, in 1890, 14 

The First Framed House in Town, 34 

The Parsonage of Rev. John Emerson, 36 

Centennial Elm, Site of First Schoolhouse, 73 

Dr. E. D. Hamilton, 91 

Col. Austin Rice, 95 

H. W. Billings, Esq., 100 

Pumpkin Hollow and Field's Hill, 103 

One of Conway's Great Elms, 106 

Gen. James S. Whitney, 108 

Conway Creamery, Ill 

BURKEVILLE WoOLEN MiLL, 115 

The Conway Churches, 128 

Second Congregational Meeting House, 134 

The Burkeville School, 161 

The High School, 167 

Marshall Field, 170 

The Field Memorial Library, 191 

Burkeville, 232 

Main Street Looking East, in 1890, 240 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Chapter I. 

PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 

By Edward C. Billings. 

POCUMTUCK AND THE FRONTIER. 

"Nine miles from >c River into ye Western woods." So 
reads the grant by which the General Court of the province 
of Massachusetts, in 1712, enlarged the holdings of the Pro- 
prietors of Pocumtuck by adding to them the tract of land 
now covered by Conway. Queen Anne's War had arrested the 
growth of the frontier settlements of New England, but the 
cessation of hostilities, proclaimed at Boston in 1712, encouraged 
the people of Deeriield, the mother town, to drive another 
wedge into the wilderness and thus secure suitable commons and 
more lands for early settlement. Thus Conway, two hundred 
years ago, was carved out of the primeval forest and appro- 
priately given the name of Deerfield Commons. It was officially 
known, however, as South West District, and under this name 
obtained a definite position on the colonial map, as well as its 
first appearance in public records. But a half century was to 
pass — "a half century of conflict" — before any attempt was made 
to settle the pleasant hills and fertile bottom lands of this last 
grant to the Proprietors of r\)cumtuck, from whom all land 
titles in Conway are derived. 

Whatever plans may have been entertained for the immediate 
settlement of the South West District were destined to be 
frustrated by fear of Indian forays and the actual renewal of 
hostilities a few years later. Thus the end of "The Last French 
War," as it was provincially called, was contemporaneous with 
Conway's first settlement. For a full century the New England 
pioneers had lived in constant dread of the red warriors who 
peopled the mysterious wilderness just beyond the frontier, and 
during most of this period they had equally good reasons for 
suspecting the intentions of their white neighbors on the north, 



16 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the French. Naturally the inhabitants of Deerfield and other 
Massachusetts towns Were in no hurry to build new homes in 
the "western woods" so long as Canada was governed by a 
Vaudreuil, whose policy it was to commit the savage Abenakis 
and Caughnawagas to hostility against New England, or so long 
as there remained a Hertel de Rouville to lead cruel marauding 
parties to the destruction of unoffending English hamlets and 
the pitiless massacre of such of the inhabitants as could not 
endure the hardships of captivity or be made profitable as 
prisoners. But with the fall of New France her Indian allies 
ceased to threaten New England, and the belated settlement 
of many hill towns, like Conway, began at once and continued 
to progress until the lines of the clearings reached to the very 
hilltops. The giants of the forest which had held undisputed 
sway over the pleasant hills of Conway fell rapidly before the 
axe of the pioneer, and as early as 1790, Conway, with more 
than two thousand inhabitants, had reached her high tide in 
population. 

It will be seen from the foregoing that during the heroic 
days of Indian, and French and Indian, warfare, Conway was 
a part of Deerfield in a geographical or territorial sense only. 
Throughout all of that romantic period her territory remained an 
unbroken wilderness, still a part of "ye western woods," to revert 
again to the quaint and picturesque language of the grant of 
1712. But there is a continuity in history which transcends geo- 
graphical lines and which also carries us far back of the year 
1767, the date of municipal incorporation, into the heroic past. 
Without following this sinuous thread too far, or enlarging at 
great length upon the many interesting events to which it leads 
us, it has been thought best, for the purposes of this work, to 
take a brief survey of some of the more important events in the 
early history of the mother town, which was first called by the 
Indian name Pocumtuck. 'fhe people of Western Massachu- 
setts, and particularly the inhabitants of those towns which 
were carved out of the territory originally known as Pocumtuck, 
are indebted to the Hon. George Sheldon of Deerfield for the 
invaluable fund of historical truth which his many years of 
thorough and patient research have made available. The writer 
of this brief resume has drawn freely from Mr, Sheldon's "History 



PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 17 

of Deerfield," and those who desire to further pursue the many 
interesting matters here Referred to rather than discussed will 
find Mr. Sheldon's work an exhaustive depository of interesting 
and exact local historical information. 

The original territory known as Pocumtuck was granted by 
the General Court to certain inhabitants of the town of Dedham 
in 1663. This territory was enlarged in 1670 and 1671 and, 
as we have already seen, by the grant of 1712, it was made to 
include what is to-day the town of Conway. It now included 
practically all of the territory covered by Deerfield, Greenfield, 
Gill, Shelburne, and Conway and part of Ashfield and Whately. 
The first settlement in this territory was made in what is still 
the main street of Old Deerfield in 1670 or 1671. 

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 

Hardly had the settlement begun before King Philip, or 
Metcom (his Indian name), and his plumed and painted warriors 
of many tribes, acting in concert under this unusually sagacious 
and capable chieftain, began to stalk through the frontier towns 
of Massachusetts, and with tomahawk and firebrand entered 
upon a work of desolation which for a time threatened the 
extinction of the colony. During this war occurred the engage- 
ment with the Indians near Turners F'alls from which the village 
takes its name. This is known as the Falls Fight. Near here 
Capt. William Turner surprised an encampment of the warriors 
and punished them severely. The Indians had their revenge, 
however, and in the running fight which followed the attack 
forty-one of Captain Turner's little army of one hundred and 
forty-five men were killed. In 1736 the General Court made 
a grant of land "to be located on the north bounds of Deerfield" 
to the survivors of the Falls Fight and their heirs. This grant 
was first called Falls Fight Town, but in 1762 the settlement 
was incorporated as Bernardston. 

In this war also occurred the Bloody Brook massacre at 
what is now Soyth Deerfield, where Captain Lathrop with his 
picked company of one hundred young men, "the flower of 
Essex county," were led into an ambuscade from which but 
few escaped. General Hoyt, in his "Antiquarian Researches," 
places the total loss at ninety. 



18 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

One of the most romantic stories in history is connected 
with an Indian attack on the town of Hadley at about this 
time. Here the fugitive William Gof'e, one of the judges who 
sentenced Charles I. to e ecution, was alternately concealed in 
the houses occupied by Mr. Russell, the minister, and Peter 
Tilton, a prominent man of the town. Three of these judges 
or "regicides," as they were called by the Royalists, escaped 
to America upon the restoration of the Stuarts in the person of 
Charles II. and went into hiding in New Haven. Determined 
at any cost to punish all those directly responsible for his father's 
ignominious death, the king sent special officers to the colonies 
to capture the fugitives, whereupon GofTe and his companion, 
Edward Whalley, fied to Hadley, where they v. ere concealed 
for a number of years. Whalley died during concealment and 
his burial place was a secret known to but few until his bones 
were found by workmen in making e.xavations near the founda- 
tion of Mr. Russell's house many years later. 

On Wednesday, September 1, 1675, so the story runs, the 
Indians attacked the town while the inhabitants were holding 
a service in the meeting house. Gof'e, from his hiding place, 
seeing the attack, sallied forth, and taking charge of the defense 
as one used to command, the savages were put to flight. Not 
being able to otherwise account for the timely appearance of 
this venerable stranger of martial mien, the devout inhabitants 
of the town, with Puritan faith in Divine providence, believed 
him to be an angel sent by God for their deliverance. 

Is the story of Goffe's appearance during the Indian attack 
on Hadley one of the myths of history? Sheldon has carefully 
considered the subject and written convincingly against it in 
an article published in the Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley 
Memorial Association. It passed current, however, with his- 
torians of an earlier date, and the late Syh ester Judd, the 
careful historian of Hadley, does not question it. Those who 
discredit the story point to the fact that contemporary records 
and writers say nothing about it. On the. other hand it is 
contended that contemporary writers naturally maintained a 
discreet silence in regard to the occurrence, but that the oral 
tradition existed many years before any one dared to publish it. 
Whether the story is true or false, Walter Scott, the greatest 



PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 19 

master of English fiction, has considered it good enough to 
incorporate into his novel, "Peveril of the Peak." 

Thirteen towns were destroyed and six hundred colonists, 
including many women and children, were killed before the 
desperate settlers administered the crushing blow to Philip and 
his warriors at Mount Hope, R. I., in 1676. The pioneers of 
Deerfield, who had been driven from the town, now returned, 
but the settlement had received a check and the act of incor- 
poration was delayed until 1682. 

When William III. was placed upon the throne of England, 
Louis XIV. promptly declared war upon his old adversary, the 
Prince of Orange, and his realm. This war was known in 
American colonies as King William's War and was the first of 
the several French and Indian wars from which the English 
colonies suffered for more than a half century. It was the 
occasion of an Indian attack on Deerfield in 1694. The inhab- 
itants, however, had taken the alarm from the attack on 
Schenectady and had inclosed a portion of the settlement within 
stout palisades from which they repulsed their foes without 
suffering serious loss. 

QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. 

For the ne.\t decade the settlement continued to grow slowly 
without serious check from Indian hostility, but the outbreak 
of Queen Anne's War brought the savages back with frightful 
results. During the night of February 28-29, 1704, a force of 
three hundred French and Indians under Major Hertel de 
Rouville made a descent on Deerfield, scaled the stockade on 
the drifted snow, and scattering themselves among the houses, 
butchered or made captives of one hundred and forty of the 
two hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants. The houses of the 
hamlet were built to resist assault, and many of the Indians 
were killed by the fire of the settlers from within, while trying 
to batter down the stout doors or hack holes through them 
with their axes and tomahawks. The door of Ensign John 
Sheldon's house resisted all efforts to break it down. A small 
aperture was finalh' made through which the enemy fired and 
killed Mrs. Sheldon. An entrance was finally effected through 
a rear door which had inadvertently been left open by a lad 



20 HISTORY OF COXWAV. 

who sought safety in flight. The marauders then used the 
house as a cover from which to attack the neighboring dwelhng 
of Benoni Stebbins, which was stoutly defended by its inmates. 
Sheldon, in his "History of Deerfield," says: "In all the wars of 
England, there is not a more gallant act recorded than this 
defense of an unfortified house, by seven men and a few women, 
for three hours, against, not only the fury and wiles of an unor- 
ganized horde of savages, but also a large force of French soldiers, 
under officers of the line trained in the wars of France." 

The Sheldon house was set on fire when the enemy left the 
settlement but fortunately the flames were extinguished and it 
stood until 1849, becoming widely known as the "Old Indian 
House." Its scarred and battered door is to-day an object of 
great interest in the Memorial Hall at Deerfield. 

The light of the burning buildings of the settlement, reflected 
from the fields of snow, brought small relief parties from North- 
ampton, Hadley, and Hatfield, and in the morning the French 
and Indians were driven from the town, and with their one 
hundred and eleven prisoners began the terrible three-hundred 
miles' winter march to Canada. The little band of soldiers 
from the towns below did not dare to press the marauders too 
severely for fear that the savages would massacre their prisoners 
rather than see them released. The captives sufifered greatly 
on the march and, as a sort of savage mercy, the Indians did 
not hesitate to dispatch with the tomahawk those who were 
too weak longer to endure its hardships. One of the first 
recipients of this savage mercy was Mrs. Williams, the wife of 
the Deerfield minister, who had become a mother only two 
weeks before. In her feeble condition she had fallen to the 
rear and her husband had been compelled by his pitiless Indian 
captors to go on without her. She was one of the last of the 
party to ford Green River, and when knee-deep in the water 
she stumbled and fell. Recovering her footing, she reached 
the further bank but in such a weakened and benumbed con- 
dition that she was unable to go on, and her Indian master 
dispatched her with one blow of his hatchet. The sufferings 
of several other women and a number of small children 
were soon ended by similar acts of savage mercy. The Indians 
were well aware of the pecuniary value of their captives, whom 



PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 21 

they intended to hold for reinsoms or as slaves. The>' were 
careful, therefore, not to sacrifice those who were able to endure 
the fatigues and privations of the march. Sometimes little 
children were drawn on sledges or carried on the backs of their 
owners. The party soon divided and took differant routes, and 
as each prisoner was compelled to accompany his or her indi- 
vidual owner, families became separated. In this manner Mr. 
Williams was early parted from his five children. 

Many of the captives were subsequently redeemed, but of 
the whole band, only one half ever again saw their home and 
friends. A number of the children, who had experienced the 
fascination and freedom of forest life with their Indian masters, 
refused, in after years, to return to their early homes, or to the 
ways of civilized life. Some married among the French and 
Indians and their blood still fiows in the veins of the French 
and the half-breeds of Canada. 

THE "OLD FRENCH WAR." 

During the "Old French War" (1745-1748) Massachusetts 
maintained a number of garrisons in the western part of the 
colony in which many Hampshire county men saw service. The 
principal fortifications were Fort Massachusetts in East Hoosac 
or Adams, Fort Shirley in Heath, and Fort Pelham in Rowe. 
Small garrisons were also stationed at Greenfield, Northfield, 
Fall Town (Bernardston), Colerain, Southampton, Blandford, 
and Stockbridge. There were palisaded houses in Northamp- 
ton, Hatfield, Deerfield, Shutesbury, and New Salem. These 
picketed houses were usually provided with mounts or bastions 
from which the walls of the palisades could be defended with 
firearms. To avoid surprise scouting parties were continually 
being sent out. Col. John Stoddard of Northampton, who was 
a soldier at Deerfield when the town was destroyed by the 
French and Indians in 1704, was now in command of the Hamp- 
shire county men. He died June 19, 1748, but a short time 
before the close of the war and was succeeded by his cousin, 
Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield. 

The capture of Louisburg in Cape Breton, June 17, 1745, 
was the event of this war which reflected the greatest glory 
upon the New England troops. Louisburg, then considered 



22 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the strongest fortress in North America, surrendered to the 
provincial troops assisted by a British squadron, after a siege 
of forty-nine days. Many Deerfield and other Hampshire men 
took part in the siege. Many Hampshire county men also 
enlisted for a proposed expedition against Canada, which, 
however, failed to materialize because England did not send 
the promised army and naval forces to co-operate with the 
New England troops. 

DEFENSE OF FORT MASSACHUSETTS AND THE "BARS FIGHT." 
The heroic defense of Fort Massachusetts against seven 
hundred and fifty French and Indians on August 19, 1746, was 
one of the most memorable events of the war. At the time of 
the attack the garrison consisted of but twenty-one men, eleven 
of them on the sick list, under command of Sergt. John Hawks 
of Deerfield. After the fight had continued for twenty-four 
hours the commanding officer of the French, Pierre de Vaudreuil, 
a brother of the governor of Canada, came forward with a white 
flag and asked for a parley. At this time the fighting force of 
the garrison had been reduced to eight men, for whose use there 
remained just three rounds of ammunition per man. Such 
effective use had the little garrison made of its limited supply 
of ammunition since the beginning of the attack that the French 
and Indians had lost from forty to seventy men killed and 
wounded. De Vaudreuil promised quarter, and after prayer and 
consultation the garrison surrendered upon honorable terms. 
The promised protection was given and the prisoners were 
kindly treated on the return march of the French to Crown 
Point. 

Not all the attacking party returned to Canada with the 
prisoners after the surrender of Fort Massachusetts. Many of 
the Indians, who were dissatisfied with the small number of 
prisoners, crossed the Hoosac Mountain and continuing down 
the Deerfield Valley discovered, on August 24, a field of hay 
near the foot of Stillwater. Here they waited in ambush for 
the haymakers, who unsuspectingly returned to their fate the 
following day. One of the haymakers going into the bush for 
partridge, walked right up to the hidden enemy and was instantly 
shot. The other men made a heroic but hopeless resistance 



PREVIOUS TO IXCORPORATION. 23 

and with one or two exceptions were killed upon the spot. 
Several of the children who accompanied the haymakers were 
assisted to make good their escape. One boy, Samuel Allen, Jr., 
was captured and taken to Canada. He returned, however, 
and became one of the first landowners in Conway. Eunice 
Williams, thirteen years of age, was pursued by an Indian, 
who fractured her skull with a blow of his hatchet and left 
her for dead but failed, probably because of his haste, to take 
her scalp. She was rescued and lived to be eighty-five years 
of age, although it is said she ne\'er completely recovered from 
the effects of the blow. The men killed were Samuel Allen, 
Eleazar Mawks, ()li\'er Amsden, Simeon Amsden, and Adonijah 
Gillet. This attack ui^on the haying party is known locally a? 
the "Bars Fight." 

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 
Peace was restored in the colonies a few months after 
the signing of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, October 7, 1748. 
The seven years' peace whi(-h ensued was followed by the 
"Seven Years' War," or the "East French War," as it was 
commonly called in America. The year 1755 is memorable in 
American history as the year of Braddock's ill-fated expedition 
against Fort Duquesne, but this is hardly more a matter of 
local history than the great Lisbon earthquake which occurred 
the same year, as no New England troops served under Braddock. 
Hampshire county men, however, were soon actively engaged 
in the expedition against Crown Point, which was also unsuc- 
cessful, as were the succeeding campaigns of 1756, 1757, and 
1758. In 1755 also occurred the "Bloody Morning Scout" near 
Lake (ieorge in which Col. Ephraim Williams, the founder of 
the college which bears his name, and other Hampshire county 
men were killed. 

MASSACRE OF WILLIAM HENRY. 
The year 1757 w^as signalized by the capture of Fort William 
Henry at Lake George by the French and Indians under Mont- 
calm. The gallant defense of the fortress by Colonel Monroe 
against overwhelming odds, and the shameful massacre of the 
disarmed garrison by inebriated savage hordes, after it had 



24 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

capitulated upon Montcalm's promise of protection, is a chapter 
of colonial history still widely known as the "Massacre of William 
Henry." Montcalm's special plea that he was unable to re- 
strain his three thousand Indians, gathered from thirty-three 
different tribes, because some of the English soldiers, in spite 
of all warnings, had given them rum to drink, has never been 
considered sufficient to remove this foul blot from the escutcheon 
of the gallant Frenchman. 

Cooper in his "Last of the Mohicans" has attempted to 
visualize the scenes of the "Massacre of William Henry." How- 
incomplete would be our mental pictures of past events if formed 
only from historical records! It has become almost a truism that 
imagination is, after all, the real truth-teller. Yet Cooper's 
attempt to depict the scenes of the massacre hardly outrun in 
sanguinary details the traditions and historical narratives that 
have come down to us. 

Sheldon in his "History of Deerfield" gives the following 
account of how a Deerfield man escaped the Indians at William 
Henry: "Lieut. Salah Barnard was seized by two Indians; each 
grasped one of his hands and dragged him towards the woods 
to strip and murder him. Barnard was an athletic man, and 
while the three were in this relative position, they reached a 
steep descent. Just at the moment the Indians began to 
descend, Barnard braced himself back, gathered all his strength 
and swung the heads of the Indians together with such force 
as to stun them both. He made his escape and finally reached 
Fort Edward." Among the Deerfield men who served under 
Colonel Monroe at William Henry was Consider Arms, the first 
town clerk of Conway. 

The fate of William Henry intensified the feeling of appre- 
hension along our frontier. Its effect in our immediate vicinity 
was to strengthen the garrisons at the several forts. Col. Israel 
Williams, who had been chief in command in Hampshire since 
the death of Colonel Stoddard in the last war, placed the four 
forts in Colerain under Lieut. John Hawks, Sergt. John Brown 
and fifteen men at Greenfield, Sergt. Remembrance Sheldon and 
sixteen men at Fall Town (Bernardston), Sergt. Ebenezer 
Belding and nine men at Huntstown (Ashfield), Sergt. Helkiah 
Grout and fourteen men at Northfield, and Sergts. Samuel and 



PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 25 

Olhniel Taylor and Greshom Hawks with fifly-onc men at 
Charlemont. 

The General Court in 1755 had offered a bounty to those 
in the regular service of forty pounds sterling for each Indian 
scalp, and the garrisons at the forts were provided with snow- 
shoes and moccasins for the use of scouting and scalping parties. 
The records of some of the Massachusetts towns show that 
bounties were actually paid for scalps. In spite of the vigilance 
of the scouts there were occasional Indian incursions, and 
alarms were frequent. Marauding parties penetrated as far as 
Greenfield, Northfield, Colerain, and Bernardston, and on June 
11, Moses Rice, the first settler in Charlemont, with his son and 
two boys was surprised by the Indians while hoeing corn. 
He was killed and scalped and the two b(ns were taken to 
Canada. Phineas Arms, a Deerfield man and a soldier of the 
garrison at Charlemont, who went to the cornfield as a guard 
to the party, was also killed. 

In 1758 the fortunes of war began to favor the English. 
Abercrombie's repulse at Ticonderoga was followed in a few weeks 
by the second capture of Louisburg. The successful campaigns 
of the following year, the evacuation of Ticonderoga by the 
French, and the capture of Quebec by General Wolfe, left the 
result of the war no longer in doubt. Deerfield and other 
Hampshire men did their full share in these campaigns. March 
16 Colonel Williams was ordered to send two hundred men from 
the Hampshire regiment to join the army of Amherst at Lake 
George for the attack on Ticonderoga. The destruction of the 
Indian town of St. Francis in Canada by Rogers' Rangers, 
with whom several Deerfield men served, completely discouraged 
the Indians and Massachusetts has since been free from their 
hostile visitations. 

The French power in Canada came to an end with the 
surrender of Montreal to General Amherst, September 8, 1760. 
Among the Deerfield men who served in this closing campaign 
were three who held lands in the South West District, or Conway, 
to wit: Major John Hawks, the gallant defender of Fort Massa- 
chusetts in the Old French War; Lieut. Seth Catlin, and Samuel 
Allen. 



26 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

CONWAY SET OFF. 

The following account of the setting off of Conway from 
the mother town is taken from Sheldon's "History of Deerfield": 
Dec. 10, 1750, "Voted to divide ye South and half of ye West 
Additional Grant" — now Conway — and a committee was chosen 
to "take a \iew" of the tract, and run and mark lines two hun- 
dred rods apart, "to run South 19° West." Dec. 14, 1753, 
John Blackmer was granted ten acres "including a place for a 
mill just before the crotch of South River," provided he can 
prove a right to as much as one common. Agents were chosen 
to prosecute trespassers on the commons, but proprietors w^ere 
allowed to cut as much timber as they would for their own 
use in building or fencing. April 21, 1760, a committee was 
chosen to run the nine-mile line, and establish the Ashfield 
bounds, the line against Hatfield, and mark the south line of 
Shelburne grants. Ten years had now elapsed since the vote to 
divide the Conway land, and now, June 16, measures were 
taken to lay it out to individuals. It was to be cut into seven 
tiers of two hundred rods, each parallel to the nine-mile line, 
and an eighth tier, taking what was left to the seven-mile line, 
with four intersecting roads. The next day lots were cast for 
the draft. But the last French w^ar was still raging, and nothing 
further appears to have been done towards efTecting a settle- 
ment. The proprietors, most of whom lived in Deerfield, had 
land enough and to spare, and many of them sold out to specu- 
lators, or men desirous of settling on the territory. In 1763, 
the whole tract was in the hands of forty parties or estates, and 
more than one half of this was held by seven men. March 2, 
1767, the people of "South West" appeared in town meeting 
with a petition to be set off into a separate district. About 
this time a large sum of money was being expended by the 
town in repairing the meeting house. From its location, the 
people of Conway could get little comparative benefit from the 
taxes they would be called upon to pay in footing the bills. 
The same amount expended at home would give a much more 
satisfactory return. This consideration probably hastened the 
inevitable act of separation. 

This petition probably contains nearly a full list of the voters 
in South West at this time. It is addressed: — 



PREVIOUS TO INCORPORATION. 



27 



To the Inhal)itants of the Town of Deerfielcl in the County 
of Hamjjshire quaHfied by Law to \ote in Town Meetings 

"We the Subscribers inhabitants and owners of lands within 
that tract of land in the sd Township of Deerfield called the 
South West Division, for too many reasons herein to be men- 
tioned, humbly request of you that you would by a vote give 
your full Consent and declare yourselves willing that the sd 
South West Division should be set off from ye sd Tow^nship 
of Deerfield and made into a district corporated and vested 
with all the Power and Privileges which Towns or Districts 
within this Province are by Law vested withal, if the Genl 
Court of ye sd Province upon application to them made shall 
judge the Same Expedient 



"Deerfield J any 
Thomas French, 
Moses Daniels, 
David Parker, 
James Oliver, 
Robert Hamilton, 
Samuel Wells, 
Josiah Boyden, 
John Thwing, 
Cyrus Rice, 
Joel Baker, 
Daniel Davidson, 
Ebenezer AUis, 
Stephen Davidson, 
Alexander 01i\er, 
Silas Ransom, 
Jonas T. Witchell, 
Nath. Field, 
Robert Oliver, 
Elias Dickinson, 



12 1767." 
David Whitney, 
Israel Rice. 
W'ill W^arren, 
Jeremiah Hew, 
James Dickinson, 
Benj'm Pulsipher, 
John Boyden, 
Simeon (Jones?), 
Elijah Wells, 
James Gilmore, 
James Gilmore, Jr. 
John Rand, 
WiU'm Smith, 
Abra. (?) Marble, 
Mathew Graves, 
Nathaniel Marble, 
Joseph Cutler, 
John Merrit, 
(Abel Marinan?). 



At the town meeting, March 2, 1767, a committee of nine 
w-as chosen to ' ' Confer together & draw up a proper vote for 
the Setting off the South West part of Deerfield into a Separate 
District and lay the same befor the Town for its Acceptance." 



28 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

The meeting was adjourned one day for a mature consideration 
of the proposition, when it was: — 

"Voted that the prayer of the Petitioners be granted upon 
the following Conditions, viz.: That the Inhabitants aforesd 
be set ofT with their Lands into a town or separate District by 
the following Meets & Bounds, viz. East upon the seven Mile 
Line, so called, until it comes to Deerfield River; West upon 
Ashfield Bounds, or the west line of Deerfield; South upon 
Hatfield Bounds; North, partly upon Deerfield River, untill it 
comes to the Northwest Division so called, & thence by sd 
Northwest Division untill it comes to the west line of the Town. 

"Provided also that they pay the same proportion of the 
Yearly Province & county Tax laid upon Deerfield, as the 
Polls & Estates of the Inhabitants of sd South West were set 
at & assessed in the last list & Tax." 

With this consent, the Conway people at once applied to 
the Legislature, and on June 17, 1767, Gov. Francis Bernard 
signed the act which gave Conway a separate municipal existence. 



Chapter II. 
THE FIRST CENTURY. 

A paper prepared for the Centennial Celebration of Conway, in 1867, 
and given in part as an address on that occasion. 

By Rev. Charles B. Rice, D.D. 

The settlement of Conway was begun in 1762. Most of the 
adjoining towns were entered upon before that time. Deerfield, 
w^hich had then been occupied nearly one hundred years, owed 
its early planting to the attraction of its rich meadows, uncovered 
of forests and ready at once for cultivation. It was possible 
also there, and in the other meadow towns, to establish settle- 
ments sufficiently compact to offer some defense against the 
Indians. The savage war cry, ringing through the valley for 
nearly all that hundred years, and but just then ceasing to be 
heard had kept back the peopling of the hill country westward. 
And for the occupation of some towns at the north and west at 
cjates a little earlier than that of Conway, it was due to the 
greater efforts of those township proprietors to give value to the 
lands they owned by establishing settlements upon them. 

At the time of its settlement, this region now bearing the 
name Conway was included within the limits of Deerfield. 
The first record we have relating to it occurs May 28, 1712. 
At that time the General Court for the State, in answer to a 
petition of Rev. John Williams, enlarged the territory of Deer- 
field by allowing it to extend "nine miles westward into the 
western woods." The nine miles were not wholly in the new 
grant, but included the previous width of the town from east 
to west. Before this, the west line of Deerfield was what it is 
now. The territory thus conveyed was nearly the same that 
is now embraced in Conway and Shelburne. The southern 
portion of it came to be known as "South West District," or 
"South West"; and it was also sometimes called "Deerfield 
commons." Arrangements were made in 1753 by the township 
proprietors for the division of the district into lots, preparatory 
to its settlement. The survey was made beginning on the 
western or Ashfield line; and the town appears at first to have 



30 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

been divided by four parallel "roads." stretching from north to 
south across its entire length, into eight ranges, each 200 rods 
in width, which ranges were to be subdivided by east and west 
lines. Nothing came of these "roads," which were laid out six 
rods wide; and the whole survey underwent such readjust- 
ments that the lots, as finally offered for sale, were 240 rods in 
length from east to west, and 100 rods in width, containing 
150 acres. 

There was much controversy with Huntstown, now Ashfield, 
concerning the western boundary. Twice the Deerfield and 
Conway men got the worst of the matter in law, and were com- 
pelled to draw in their lines. They never felt easy as to the 
way this business was settled, and unquestionably we ought 
to believe that they were wronged. The owners on the west 
side who suffered loss received compensation in other lands. 
It is observed by Pliny Arms, Esq., of Deerfield, who touches 
on this point in his valuable historical lecture, that the Hoosac 
farm, now owned by Consider Arms, was probably acquired by 
his grandfather Consider in this way. 

In December of the same year, 1753, appears the first sign 
looking towards actual settlement in Conway. The proprie- 
tors made a grant to John Blackmore of ten acres of land for 
a mill spot "at a place just before the crotch of South River"; 
there being a condition that he should build within twelve 
months. But it cannot be learned that John Blackmore pro- 
ceeded any further with this enterprise. The place itself where he 
meant to build, any one familiar with the course of South River 
and the force of prepositions may be competent now to discover. 

In 1754 a county road was laid out across the District from 
east to west. This road, to which further reference will be 
made, had respect at this time solely to the use of the Huntstown 
settlers. It remained for years a mere path. In 1763 it was 
voted by Deerfield to raise four pounds "towards building a 
bridge over South River, and making the County road adjacent 
to the same." A rude bridge was probably soon thrown across, 
and some work done on the banks to make it accessible. 

After South West began to be peopled, we find that an allow- 
ance was made for the schooling of the children who lived too 
far away to attend at the "Town Plat." 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 31 

Early in 1767 the inhabitants had become numerous enough 
to wish for a separate organization; and they petitioned to 
that effect. Deerfield agreed to the petition, and proposed 
the boundaries of the new town as follows: "East upon the 
seven mile line, so called, until it comes to Deerfield River; 
West, upon Ashfield bounds, or the west line of Deerfield; 
South, upon Hatfield bounds" (where Whately and Williams- 
burg now arc); "North, partly upon Deerfield line, until it 
comes to the North-west Division, so-called" (that is, until 
it strikes the Shelburne line); "and thence by said North-west 
Di\'ision until it comes to the West line of the town." 

On the 17th of June in the same year Conway was incor- 
porated by act of the General Court. 

The town took its name from Gen. Henry Conway, then a 
member of the British ministry, and popular in the Colonies 
as having been government leader in the House of Commons 
at the repeal of the Stamp Act. General Conway was a brave 
soldier, and a well meaning though not an able statesman. 

The General Court had authorized Elijah Williams, "One 
of His Majesties' justices of the peace for the County of Hamp- 
shire," to issue his warrant "to some Principle Inhabitant" 
of Conway, requiring him to warn the qualified voters to meet 
for the choice of town officers. This warrant bears date Aug. 8, 
1767; and is the first document appearing on the records of 
the town. 

The first town meeting thus provided for was held on Mon- 
day, Aug. 24, at the house of Thomas French, Innholder. The 
following is the list of the officers elected : Consider Arms, Moder- 
ator and Town Clerk; Cyrus Rice, Constable; Thomas French, 
Consider Arms, and Samuel Wells, Selectmen and Assessors; 
Consider Arms, Town Treasurer; Israel Gates, Thomas French, 
and Joel Baker, Surveyors of Highways; David Parker, Ty- 
thingman; Elisha Amsden, Warden; Thomas French and Simeon 
Graves, Fence Viewers; Silas Rawson, Sealer of Leather; Eben- 
ezer Allis, Sealer of Weights and Measures; Joseph Catlin and 
Joel Baker, Hog-reefs; Cyrus Rice, Deer-reef; James Gilmore 
and Josiah Boyden, Hay-wards; David Parker and Ebenezer 
Allis, Surveyors of Lumber. The deer were soon gone from the 
forests, and the official list has been otherwise somewhat changed. 



32 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

but since that day the soil has never ceased to bring forth men 
wilHng to fill these stations; and the succession has not failed. 

EARLY SETTLERS. 

Having thus reached a spot where the town has an organi- 
zation and a name, we may properly stop to gather up some 
facts of interest with respect to its earliest inhabitants. 

The town, as was to have been expected, was first occupied 
upon its eastern border and within the district now known as 
"East Side." Here, upon the slope of the hill looking to- 
wards Deerfield, were the farm and dwelling house of Cyrus 
Rice, the first settler of Conway. Mr. Rice was from Barre.* 

His house was upon the south side of an old and now unused 
road that led from the vicinity of John Field's, past the place 
lately occupied by Bradley Packard, to the present county 
road a little distance above the old tavern stand long known 
as the Hawley place: The first house was about twenty-five 
rods southeast of the spot now marked by an ancient cellar 
with bricks and rubbish, on which the family afterwards lived. 
A mound of stones has lately been raised on the original site. 
Here, as already mentioned, occurred the first death in our 
town. Here also was born, Jan. 10, 1764, the first child of 
Conway — Beulah Rice. The family had also, sons; one. of 
them, Stephen, became the father of the poet of this occasion, 
who is thus a lineal descendant of the first man. 

Other settlers soon followed. A half mile south of Mr. Rice 
was Israel Gates (Barre) on a spot now occupied near the house 
of Cephas May. Still southward was the first house of Josiah 
Boyden (Grafton), a Revolutionary soldier, and probably the 
second man to come. His son David was the first boy the 
town had. And a daughter Mary, born Aug. 24, 1767, — the 
day of the first town meeting, — and afterwards the wife of Medad 
Crittenden, is still living among us and is the oldest inhabitant 
of Conway. Not far ofT were John Wing and Elijah May, 
neither of them of the very earliest; and also, probably, David 

* The probability is that Mr. Rice came to Conway early in 1762 and 
cleared lands, planted crops, and built a house; that he brought his family 
in the fall of the same year; and that his wife died soon after reaching her 
new home. It would appear that Mr. Rice married again the following 
spring. 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 33 

Parker. Half a mile west of Cyrus Rice, where John Field 
now lives, was James Dickinson (Somers). Northwest from 
him was John Bond (Grafton), and farther on westerly, at the 
top of the hill, Jonas Rice (Grafton), where his descendant Joel 
still lives. South of Jonas Rice, on a road now closed, was 
John Boyden (Grafton), a Revolutionary soldier. And north- 
west again from James Dickinson was Joseph Catlin (Deerfield), 
near by the present Josiah Boyden's. In his barn Mr. Emerson 
preached his first sermon. And here, still earlier, were baptized 
at one time seven infant children. 

North of this eastern district, and where is now the great 
elm he planted, and at the place now occupied by Madison 
Stearns, lived Lieut. Robert Hamilton (Barre), long a soldier 
in the Revolution. Beyond, over the Hoosac hill. Consider 
Arms owned the land and sent his son Henry later to live upon 
it, where another Consider, grandson of the first, now is. North- 
westward was George Stearns, father of all the Stearnses. Fur- 
ther on Deacon Caleb Rice, moving afterward to the top of 
Arms' Hill, and to Genesee; and beyond him Silas Rawson. 
And still westward. Deacon Joel Baker (Sunderland) building 
soon, for Dennis Childs of the present time, what is now the oldest 
and what was probably the first framed house in Conway. Here 
is the oldest apple tree and the first tree in the town to bear 
fruit, which oldest tree is also found in other locations. South 
of Joel Baker, where Dexter Bartlett now lives, was Adoniram 
Bartlett, father of many Bartletts and authors of much wit; 
moving afterwards to the east of Robert Hamilton. And next 
towards the center Deacon Jonathan Root (Montague) and 
Daniel Stow, prominent but not early settlers. Half a mile 
north, near Morris Brown's, was John Thwing (Bristol, R. I.). 
Northwest from thence at John Clary's, Benjamin Pulsifer soon 
lighted for a little before his later settlement at the east side. A 
little below was Timothy Thwing, son of John, planting apple 
trees for his own and the Broomshire orchards on the place 
which the family still keep. Amariah, son of Timothy, is with 
us to-day, the oldest man in our town, having his mind yet clear, 
and with his natural force not spent. 

Beyond the river, in Broomshire, was Israel Rice (Grafton), 
where Austin Rice now lives, and northward in the order of 



34 



HISTORY OP' CONWAY. 



the present houses: Timothy Rice (Grafton), Theophilus 
Page (Conn.), William Warren (Grafton), John Batchelder, on 
the town farm, and a half mile beyond, where a cellar now 
remains, Nathaniel Goddard (Grafton). East of Israel Rice 
were John Broderick and Michael Turpey (Ireland), and 
southeast for a time, John Sherman (Shrewsbury), father of 
Caleb and John, where John B. Stearns now lives. 




The First Framed House in Town. Built about 1766. Burned in 1916. 



Israel Rice and William Warren were the first of these set- 
tlers. Mr. Warren with the father of Mr. Rice explored the 
neighborhood and bought lands in 1762, the year of Cyrus Rice's 
coming. Two years later William and Israel undertook to 
visit their estates, but losing the former track up the Deer- 
field and striking the sharp banks of the South River at or 
below the point of Hoosac they could not cross and went back 
disconcerted. The next year they effected a landing, cross- 
ing near the present bridge, and prepared, Mr. Rice the frame, 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 35 

Mr. Warren the logs, for a house. In 176C they brouglil their 
famihes. One hung sheets over his frame for his bedroom, the 
other spread bark over his logs, \vhereu[)on it rained twelve 
days. 

Jumping over Broomshire hill to the north end of "West 
Street," we find Samuel Newhall (Leicester) where Joseph New- 
hall now lives; south towards the four corners, David Harring- 
ton, with his son Jason, a Revolutionary soldier; west by William 
Stearns, Jonathan Smith (his son living later by the Broom- 
shire ferry); westward still over the hill, Deacon Caleb Allen, on 
a fine slope that keeps his name; and northwesterly James 
Warren (on the Tobey place). Returning to the main road, 
at the Harding place was Daniel Newhall (Leicester), popu- 
larly called "Wig Newhall," Revolutionary soldier, father of 
the Daniel of stories and humorous memory, and of other Daniels 
in long succession, though gone from Conway; westward again, 
Capt. Prince Tobey, and over the brow of the hill, where Rodol- 
phus Rice now lives, Jabez Newhall (Leicester). South again 
on the main track from Daniel Newhall were Horton, David 
Whitney (Grafton or Upton), gone to be first settler of Phelps, 
N. Y., and later, perhaps, Benjamin Wells, where George Stearns 
now is. 

Rising the hill by the old road, we pass on the left the spot 
on which John Emerson built his house and set his elms in 1770; — 
we may find Abner Forbes, Esq., sitting under the shadow of his 
trees. And if now we are tired or thirsty, the house of Capt. 
Thomas French, " Innholder," is in sight upon the fiat, one 
third of the way up Arms' Hill before us. This "Principle 
Inhabitant" of Conway walked to the Deerfield line on his own 
land, went into office-holding beyond any other man, wrote his 
name in great letters, "Test. Thomas French," on the town book, 
fell into idleness, cheated the Continental government in salt, 
took to the lawyers, forged, sat in the pillory, and died a vagabond. 
Not waiting with him, we may look up if we can his brother 
Tertius; and find Nathaniel Field, not far, it is to be guessed, 
from the foot of Arms' Hill, west of the Baptist meeting house. 
Down on "the Flat," uncertain where, we may search for Asa 
Merritt, great-grandfather of Charles of West Street. On the 
hill beyond, northeast of Charles Parsons, we may call on 



36 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



Jonathan Whitney, at the house, now gone, where town meetings 
were often held. 

Over all the land that can be seen from this point in every 
direction, but especially, it may be guessed, on a site a little 
to the east of Jonathan Whitney's, lives Caleb Sharp. He is 




IhE PAKtiONAGH ( )t Re\ . Jl'HN EmERSON. 



half^negro and half " Indian, or something else," it is said, which 
last statement may be rested in. He is a vigorous man, a builder 
of sawmills and gristmills; and has already before or by the 
incorporation of the town, a grain mill running where the mill 
now stands. With him will presently appear his successor 
"Black Csesar" (Csesar Wood), in later times "Saxton and 
Grave Diger," who also, as the ancient memories tell us, "did 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 37 

every sort of a thing." After him soon is corning, third in the 
line, Asahel Wood, "respected by everybody old and young," 
and again, fourth in succession, Thomas Cole, who will continue 
to the first centennial. 

Turning south, towards where the Congregational meeting 
house now stands, Aaron Howe will shoe our horses, or Maj. 
Jiimes Davis, if we have not passed him before by the Baptist 
meeting house, and if wherever he is we can find his shop, will 
tap our boots, — a questionable matter, for he is the man whose 
newly put-on sole Adoniram Bartlett lost from his foot, "care- 
lessly," as he said, "because he took it from the stirrup." If 
we wait a little this Davis will leave his shop for the Continental 
army. Still southward and west of the road as we go into 
Pumpkin Hollow wc pass the log houses of Joel and Elias Dick- 
inson, the latter the owner of the "center lot" and living in 
Jabez Newhall's garden. Elijah Wells calls to us from the 
western hill; by H. B. Childs, and Gersham F'arnsworth shortly 
on the other ear. But hastening out of this swamp, the best 
part of which Jonas Rice would not take at twenty cents an 
acre, though for the rest of his lot he gave a dollar, and running 
up Field's Hill, we pass near the summit Alexander Oliver, a 
lieutenant in the army of the Revolution, and Robert Oliver, 
and James Oliver, a Tory refugee and one of the three that the 
town furnished that went away with the British. Under the 
hill south is Captain James Look (Martha's Vineyard, 1768). 
We meiy hurry as best we can through Hardscrabble, by Elisha 
Clark on the west side, and by Ebenezer Allis at the Fairfield 
place; and beyond at the southeast we will halt at the always 
hospitable stand where John Allis now lives by the home of his 
grandfather. Captain Lucius (Somers, Conn.). Here, if the 
Davis boots have failed, others may be borrowed, for Captain 
Allis has a pair of fashionable ones, or rather the only pair in 
the district, which he lends to his neighbors wlien thc>' go a 
journey in style. 

Captain Allis was a principal inhabitant. Besides his boots 
he had one of the only two carts that for twenty years were 
knowm beyond Field's Hill. And over and above boots and 
cart he had some public spirit. He bought, it is said, and gave 
to the town the common bv the old church. Withal he rode at 



38 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

first seven miles, Sundays, to the Deerfield meeting, horseback, 
with his wife, and with a child in the arms of each. And with 
many other Conway men, he helped take Burgoyne. 

A half mile southeast were Elijah Wells and Matthew and 
Simeon Graves (Whately) ; and a like distance, more to the 
north, James Gilmore, where Israel and Thomas L. Allis, of 
the Captain Lucius stock, now live. Still beyond, on the edge 
of Whately, at the Foote place, Samuel Wells, where was a 
hotel. Westward again a mile from Captain AUis's, and on the 
present W^hately road, was Amos Allen, "Captain Barefoot." 
He fought in the war of the Revolution. He needed to borrow 
no boots. He got his commission and his title coming from the 
army over the Green Mountains with bare feet in four inches 
of snow. 

Passing west to Cricket Hill, we find Capt. Abel Dinsmore, 
a Revolutionary soldier, where his grandson, Alvan Dinsmore, 
now lives. W^illiam Gates was his next neighbor at the north. 
Southwest was Gideon Cooley. He brought his wife and all 
his goods on the back of a horse; and the wife filled her 
bedtick with the leaves of the wood. Not far off was Nathaniel 
Marble. Going to the northwest we pass the farm of Deacon 
John Avery (Dedham), now uninhabited, but stoutly occupied 
for two generations, and reach the stand of Malachi Maynard 
(Westboro), where his daughter Lucy and his son-in-law Zelotes 
Bates now live. 

The town had men on the hill in those days, and later. 
Malachi Maynard was a genuine old New Englander and a 
Puritan, and a good specimen of both; strong in body and 
in mind resolute, independent, upright, religious, staying put 
in his place. He had but six weeks' schooling, was twenty-six 
years town treasurer, figured in his head and figured right, and 
settled right after he had figured. 

South of Malachi Maynard was Solomon Goodale. North- 
ward was Samuel Crittenden, in 1772, father of Medad Critten- 
den; a name still kept among us by the memories it brings of a 
life manifestly growing through all its long later years into the 
likeness of the life that is to come. 

Looking from Cricket Hill toward the southwest at the date 
of the incorporation, there was probably no settler's house to be 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 39 

seen. (Indeed it may not be quite certain that there was one on 
the Hill itself at that time. Mr. Maynard came in 1768.) 
Isaac Nelson may probably have been the earliest. Richard 
Collins was where Hiram Collins now lives as early as 1770. 
Solomon Hartwell (Dedham) was soon planted north of John 
Bradford's. Also two brothers of Malachi Maynard, Moses 
and Calvin: one south of John Bradford, the other north of 
Edward Bradford. Ebenezer Tolman was here in 1772. Twenty 
years later there were farms still uncleared in the districts that 
have since become "city." So late as that Shubael and John 
Bradford were first occupants. Caleb Beals was early in Po- 
land, north of the Lucius Bond place; also Jonathan Oakes 
upon the Chester Wrisley place, and Ebenezer, another of the 
Maynards, upon the Captain Phillips' farm, with Reuben 
Hendricks hard l)\- him. And far northwest across the river, 
still a fifth Maynard brother, Timothy, living but four years ago 
(1863), ninety-nine years old. 

Coming down the valley we are near by at the house of Capt. 
Consider Arms (Deerfield), the opposite side of the road from 
the one now occupied by the Arms famil\-. Consider Arms was 
one of the earliest settlers in the limits of the town, one of the 
greatest landowners, a leading public man, and everyway a 
"principle inhabitant." 

Passing again our grove and the Inn of Captain French, and 
over the Arms Hill northwest, by the Goddard who brought the 
boy, Eleazer Flagg, to the place where Samuel F'lagg now lives, 
and past the neighbors Stebbins, Whittemore, and Woodward, 
all later comers, we go down upon the large farms of Isaac and 
Elisha Amsden (Deerfield), now occupied by Walter and Earl 
Guilford. Beyond them the settlement, as at the southwest, 
was somewhat later; Solomon Field (Surrey, N. H.) was of the 
first, in 1772 or 1773. He was the man who killed the bear which 
gave its name to the river that is called Bear River. His grand- 
son, Consider, still keeps the place. Near by him toward the 
south were Jesse Severance and Zadac King. Toward the east 
Sylvanus Cobb (Deerfield) at Charles Macomber's, and north- 
ward Samuel Wilder (Deerfield), Aholiab Wilder, and farther on 
William Halloway and Seth Godfrey; none of these last, perhaps, 
first settlers; and returning from the north schoolhouse, Nathan 



40 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Bacon, and still later, though himself the son of an early inhab- 
itant, where Ryder had lived, in the center of the district and 
the central man, Caleb Sherman. 

There were doubtless some other early settlers whose names 
are not here mentioned, but there can have been but few such. 
On the other hand some of those whose names are given, though for 
the most part the first occupants of their farms, were relatively late 
in coming. Dividing the town by a line from Broomshire through 
the center to the South Part, the eastern half contains almost all 
that were on the ground at the date of the incorporation. 

The number of families was about fifty, and the whole popu- 
lation, the households being then small, did not much if at all 
exceed two hundred. 

These were the men, who, as Mr. Emerson writes, had come 
in, "planted themselves down on new and unimproved spots 
of land, and with small property but good resolution commenced 
the arduous but honest and respectable business of earning 
their bread by the sweat of their brow." They were, with a 
few exceptions, very poor at their coming. They were not well 
furnished with tools nor with animals for farm work. William 
Warren's apparatus consisted of one cow, one axe, one hoe, one 
chain and one "bung-town copper." It was usual to go to Deer- 
field or Hatfield to hire cattle for plowing, or other team work. 
It was not for several years that a man commonly owned either 
oxen or a horse. During this period it was customary to carry 
grain to mill upon the back. One bushel was the usual load. 
There are many accounts, however, of larger quantities having 
been carried from great distances. Amos Allen ("Captain 
Barefoot") brought two bushels of rye from Hatfield, taking it 
but once from his shoulder, and that at the mill where it was to be 
ground ; other accounts resolutely put it at three bushels. Mal- 
achi Maynard also brought from Hatfield, in bags, nineteen shad 
and two pigs, the pigs being of considerable size. He rested at 
midnight on the top of Popple Hill, leaning against a tree, and 
fearing to remove his load lest he could not replace it. He used 
to say that "he was more glad at breakfast for those shad than 
ever after for all the income of his farm." 

Our fathers made up thus in vigor and resolution for the 
lack of means. So too did the mothers. Mrs. Joel Baker built 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 41 

her own oven, which cHd good service for herself and her neigh- 
bors, her husband provicHng stones and mortar. The wife of 
Alexander Oliver, on the top of Field's Hill, was accustomed 
in summer to do her washing at the brook, one hundred rods 
north, down the steep slope. Having finished the work, Captain 
Childs tells us, "she would take her two pails of w^et clothes, 
one in each hand, her baby under her arm, and her wash tub on 
her head, and go up the hill home." It may be hoped that 
this was only while the lieutenant was away in the army fighting 
for his country and his wife. 

Considerably later, between 1780 and 1790, John Sherman, 
son of John and brother of Caleb, ran eight measured miles 
in 56^ minutes, and on a hot August day. A wager of eight 
pounds had been laid that he could not do it within an hour. He 
ran on the Deerfield road, from near the foot of Arms' Hill to 
"Eagle brook." He had previously, to make the matter sure, 
gone over the course by night, his brother accompanying him on 
horseback, and giving him the time at ever)- mile stake, "it being 
moonlight." 

FRONTIER LIFE. 

There is much that is common with new settlers everywhere 
in the w^ay of living. The condition of things here one hundred 
years ago repeats itself now at the farthest West. Yet not with 
exactness. Most of the men who have gone lately to the new 
lands have not been so poor as these settlers were. The age is 
not so poor. Materials and implements of all sorts are more 
abundant and much better. The prairie country at the West, 
too, makes less hard work than these stony and wooded hills 
did. The whole township at the period of its settlement was 
densely covered with timber, much of which was of great size. 
It can hardly be said that any of the original forest is still stand- 
ing, to show what it was. There are spots that have never been 
cleared, but the heaviest growth has been removed. A few single 
trees may remain. Most that we see are but puny representa- 
tives of those our fathers felled. Some of us, not old now, have 
found stumps of pines and chestnuts, five or six feet or more in 
diameter. We are not likely to have come upon the largest. 
John Allis has this year cut a chestnut upon the lot of his grand- 
father, Lucius, full six feet across at its butt. There is one maple 



42 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

at least on the farm of Levi Page that is 18>^ feet in circumfer- 
ence. Others larger are known to have fallen. Enormous 
hemlocks, growing and prostrate, covered the low and level 
grounds and blocked up the ravines and river banks. Adding 
to this the rough surface in many parts, it made tough work 
and gave a -hard look at first to the country. Thomas L. AUis 
narrates it from his grandfather that about the time of the 
setting off of the town, Eliphalet Williams of Deerfield rode 
on horseback all day over it, as best he could, and told his neigh- 
bors at night he would not give the horse he rode on for the whole 
of it. Others judged better of its value. The great trees stood 
for hearty soil as well as hard work. They made stout houses too, 
and substantial "backlogs" — such of them as were not too large. 

To illustrate still further the style of living prevalent among 
the early settlers, I will quote from the address of Captain Childs: 
"Many families had but one cow for some years. Milk porridge 
was very common fare. At those seasons of the year when milk 
failed, bean porridge was the usual substitute. They were fre- 
quently entirely out of meat in March. It was usual then to go 
to the river and buy a horseload of shad, which might be had in 
any quantity for a copper each. Indeed they were so plenty 
that they were considered not as a rarity but as a drug, and were 
resorted to from necessity and not from choice. Roast potatoes 
alone frequently constituted the entire meal. One man said to 
me, ' I have often seen the time when I would have given more 
for a roast potato than I would now for a roast turkey.' They 
had no tea except bohea, and but precious little of that." 

The roasting of potatoes carries us back to times when cook 
stoves were unheard of and when enormous fireplaces ventilated 
and occupied, if they did not warm, the houses. The privation 
of tea may not strike us all with force. And the like may be 
said of the necessity of living upon Connecticut river shad. As 
to the fish indeed we know that it got into bad repute not wholly 
on its own account. The ill savor it had was the taste of the lack 
of meat. Long after, if by evil chance, a farmer was brought to 
the buying of fish in spring he might be likely to hear inquiries 
after the state of his pork-barrel. It is told of one in later times 
that, having come prematurely to the last layer, he went about 
among his neighbors to procure a lamb, whose wool he said his 



THE FIRST CP:NTURV. 43 

wife was in want of. Not finding any, and being at last in 
despair, he muttered, forgetfully to himself, that he believed he 
should go and l)u\- some codfish. 

It may be remarked withal that as to food the scarcity was 
only in the first years. Once cleared the land brought forth 
abundantly. The fields yielded wheat, and sweet grasses for 
the cattle were ready to cover the hills. - 

Reviewing thus this time Mr. Emerson declares, "While the 
rank and situation of \our fathers did not admit of that ex- 
ternal polish and refinement, or elegance and luxury in living, 
which modern fashion and taste have introduced, and prosperity 
can now better afford, yet their comparative indigence did not 
subject them to the extremities of want or merited contempt. 
Providence smiled upon their honest efforts and industry, by 
which they were rising to a state of credit and respectability; 
verifying the remark of Solomon that 'the hand of the diligent 
maketh rich.' 

The first inhabitants of Conway are described by one still 
living, who remembers them, as "men and women of sound 
minds, frugal and industrious habits, strict integrity of char- 
acter and sterling worth." There is much other testimony to 
the same effect. They were, as a class, hardy, resolute, indus- 
trious, endowed with strong common sense, attached to the 
principles of morality and good order and earnest maintainers 
of the doctrines and institutions of religion. There was, how- 
ever, among them, as in almost every community of every 
age, those of whom so much could not be said. The memories 
that go back to the past are apt to overvalue the distant in 
comparison with the near. If the question is put whether on 
the whole the population of that day was superior in point of 
character to the present, we should have need to hesitate l)efore 
answering that it was. There can certainly be gathered up, 
in stories and songs illustrative of the social habits that pre- 
vailed in some circles, and from the records of the church, enough 
to comfort those who fear that our town is deteriorating in the 
quality of its population and running hopelessly into looseness 
and disorder. There was dishonesty, not perhaps at first quite 
down to the average (it may be feared in this respect we have 
made no gain at least) ; there was intemperance, after a little, 



44 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

below the line of recent times; there was as much vulgarity of 
speech and of manners and as much immorality and irregularity 
of life in general as is usual in modern times. It will not be ex- 
pected that I should produce the proofs on some of these points. 
And it is not pleasant to lower the estimate many may hold of 
those who lived here before us. But waiving further compari- 
son with the present, if we take the years between 1840 and 1850, 
it is a matter of the clearest knowledge that there was never any 
earlier period at which our town had on the whole a better popu- 
lation than it had then. More than this, it is my decided belief 
that, going back from that time, the levels will be found dropping 
somewhat lower. What changes the last few years have wrought 
I cannot undertake to determine. Moreover, to look fairly on 
the later generations is in justice, also, to the fathers themselves. 
They set on foot appliances of education and religion upon the 
working of which they relied, not only to maintain for their 
own time the power of sound principles, but also to perpetuate 
them and to pass them down to the coming generations. To 
place the present below the past is to disparage the past; for it 
was the business of the past to make the present better. Our 
fathers meant to do it. 

THE FIRST CHURCH. 
Previous to the incorporation of the town, religious meetings 
had not been held with regularity. Such as were able went to 
Deerfield; or they attended any occasional meeting they could 
hear of. At the second town meeting provision was made for 
hiring a preacher. The Congregational church was organized 
in less than a year — July 14, 1768. It had thirty-two members, 
sixteen men and sixteen women. After a little Mr. John Emerson 
of Maiden was invited to preach as a candidate for settlement. 
"It was," says he, "in the month of April, 1769, when I com- 
menced my public labors here on the Sabbath, being the 9th 
day of that month and year. We met at a barn. It was sur- 
rounded with thick growing wood except a small adjacent spot 
cleared, which admitted ye light of heaven; a place dififerent 
indeed from those costly and splendid edifices erected and dedi- 
cated to the worship of ye Most High since that day, and very 
dissimilar," he goes on to say, emphasizing his words, "from 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 45 

that in ye ancient church in Brattle St., Boston, where I had been 
called only ye Lord's day before to preach." "On this Sabbath," 
he continued, "the people, all 'tis supposed that were able, came 
to hear the word. Natural curiosity indeed was doubtless one 
motive for this attention. The speaker was a stranger from a 
distance, and a youth of small stature, nothing otherwise dis- 
tinguishing; only it was literally John preaching in the wilderness 
when they came out to see and hear." 

Mr. Emerson pleased the people and was ordained pastor, 
Dec. 21, 1769. He was voted "for an encouragement" an 
annual salary of fifty pounds, with a yearly addition of three 
pounds until it should rise to eighty. He was also to have, 
within two years and a half, an additional sum of one hundred 
and fifty pounds "settlement." 

The ordaining council had dinner at Consider Arms's. Tradi- 
tion has preserved the story that after dinner two of the ministers 
were unable to find their way back to the church — on account 
of the woods. Yet it may here be mentioned that fifty-eight 
years later, at the settlement of Daniel Crosby, it was reckoned 
a strange thing that he should propose and insist upon the enter- 
taining of the council without liquors. 

AH proceedings with respect to the support of preaching were 
then, as for many years, had in town meetings. The town w^as 
the parish. The money raised for religious purposes was collected 
with the other taxes. 

Here, also, by the town, were taken all steps for the building 
and furnishing a meeting house. F'or several years no subject 
appears more frequently upon the records. At the second town 
meeting, held in September, 1767, a committee was appointed 
to find the center of the tow^n, with this object in view. This 
committee discovered what they regarded as the appropriate 
spot in the so-called "center lot"; the same being what is now 
known to a few as "the old common," situated twenty-fiv^e 
or thirty rods south of Mrs. William Avery's, and now owned 
by Jabez Newhall. Bm the matter of location was not so settled. 
Many meetings were held, and many conflicting votes taken. 
A committee from abroad was called in. They reported the 
true center to be seventeen rods southwest of the old common 
spot, and not suitable for building on; and recommended a 



46 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

site on the Elijah Wells place, a few rods east of where H. B. 
Childs now lives. And their report was also "excepted" and 
the spot "established." But neither did this stand. They 
subsequently voted to build a small house near Jonathan Whit- 
ney's; rescinded this vote, and finally, in the spring of 1769, 
determined "yt ye Nole, about fifteen or twenty rods north of the 
southeast corner of ye Center lot, where is a large stump with a 
stake Spoted, standing within ye same, be established for a spot 
to build the meeting-house upon." The site thus fixed on was the 
same now occupied by the schoolhouse in Pumpkin Hollow, a 
third of a mile east of "the old common," and within, and near 
the eastern line of, the same center lot, w^hich stretching west- 
ward over the hill, included both the other locations selected by 
the committees. On this "nole" was raised the house which stood, 
a meeting and a town house, until within the memory of all of us 
who have attained to middle age. The frame was put up in the 
spring and summer of 1769. And it was in this building that Mr. 
Emerson was ordained, as before noticed, in December following. 
It was then, and for years after, only a shell. The minister 
took for a pulpit one end of the carpenter's workbench, which 
was left against times of further use. Part of his congrega- 
tion sat on the other end. The larger portion occupied benches 
made of slabs. The questions of the sale of pew ground, of the 
building of pews, of pulpit, gallery, and porches continued long to 
exercise the ingenuity and to disturb, it must be feared, the 
temper of our fathers. The pews, when they began to be builded, 
were not put in all at once, but there remained a space still 
occupied by benches. There are signs of a jealousy of the pew 
building as of aristocratic tendency, and of a disposition on the 
part of some to stand by the common benches as more suitable 
to a wholesome sentiment of equality. Gradually, however, the 
house grew into order and convenience. It was enlarged in 
1795 and 1796 to meet the wants of a rapidly increasing congre- 
gation. Porches and a steeple were built and a clock provided. 
In 1842 it was taken down, a new house having been built a 
quarter of a mile north, which still stands. The connection 
between town and parish having been then dissolved, arrange- 
ments were made by which the town secured the right of holding 
its meetings in the basement of the new building. 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 47 

The old meeting house was n(^t warmed by a fire until 1819, 
fifty years after it was built, when stoves were put up in it. Hot 
stones and foot stoves were often carried, to mitigate the severity 
of winter. The minister preached with overcoat and gloves on. 
And notwithstanding what may be said of the hardy habits of 
former generations there is abundant evidence that they suffered 
much from cold. 

Another provision for warmth on Sunda\-s ma>- also be 
mentioned. There was a small log house, called the "Little 
House," perhaps also the same that is once mentioned in the 
records as "the Sabbath House," which stood a few rods south 
of the meeting house on the flat back of the residence and store 
of William C. Campbell. Here a huge fire was built on Sundays, 
which was resorted to at morning and noon. Here we may suppose 
our fathers and mothers had their Sunday noon conversations, 
always on befitting topics. This house was built as early, at the 
latest, as 1769. How long it stood I have no means of knowing. 

SCHOOLS. 

The first action of the town with respect to schools appears 
in the record of a meeting held in September, 1767, at which 
it was voted ">t thc>- will hire a Dame to keep school 5 months, 
and yt Messrs. Nathaniel Field, Ebenezer Allis and Benjamin 
Pulsifer be a committee to provide said Dame, and appoint 
where said school shall be kept." The schools were held in 
private houses. The first schoolhouse was begun in 1773, and 
finished the next year. Its dimensions were 25 feet by 22 feet. 
It stood a few rods northeast of the old meeting house, near the 
middle, but somewhat toward the eastern side of the common, 
on a spot which would be crossed by a line from the shop lately 
and long occupied by Phineas Bartlett, Esq., passing over the 
common to the house of Jabez Newhall. The site of this house, 
which, through comparison of various dates, has been with 
difficulty recovered to knowledge, is to be marked by a century 
elm this morning planted upon it, — a living memorial, which, 
unlike anything else of all the life of the present generation, may 
possibly carry its remembrances across the coming century the 
next hundredth return of the day we now commemorate. 

F'or a few \ears the sum of money raised for schooling did 
not exceed twelve pounds, but in 1774 it was increased to thirty 



48 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

pounds. Once only since has the annual appropriation been 
omitted. This was in 1775, and was owing to the great appre- 
hension that prevailed in view of the approaching hostilities with 
Great Britain. The amount raised for schools the current year 
is twenty-seven hundred dollars. The earlier sums were not 
small in comparison when we consider the poverty of a popula- 
tion of farmers, few of whom, as yet, owned a horse, or a cart or 
a plow. Some rudiments of a district system begin to appear in 
1776, and in 1778 the town was formally "squadroned out" for 
schooling. The districts as we now know them are of much 
later date. 

For about ten years this first schoolhouse was the only one 
in town. Schools were held to some extent in the outer parts 
of the town. But this was the principal school. Here, whenever 
it was in session, the older children came from all parts, boys and 
girls, young men and women. It thus became, by force of cir- 
cumstances, a town high school. The branches taught were 
reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic. An effort was made 
in 1791 to introduce "grammar," a term which seems then 
partly, perhaps, from its legal use in the name "Grammar 
School." to have been confined to the study of the classical 
tongues. It was voted that 'the Latin and Greek languages 
should be taught. But the reason of this was "Greek" to our 
fathers; and the next year it was rescinded. 

Private "select schools" have been held for many years. 
One such was kept twenty-nine terms, to his own credit, and to 
the great and lasting benefit of the town, by Deacon John Clary. 
In 1853 the Conway Academy was incorporated. The build- 
ing then erected with money voluntarily contributed, was des- 
troyed by fire in 1863, and the present structure was raised on 
the same spot (on the hill opposite the Congregational meeting 
house) in the next year. Within the past two years arrange- 
ments have been made by which there is here kept a high school 
free for all the children of the town. 

It is not known who was the first school-teacher in the town. 
The first master whose memory has been preserved to us was Master 
Cole. A teacher was famous in those days according as he lifted 
up switches upon his unruly boys. The name of Master Cole still 
sprouts fresh among us, like a twig from a green birch tree. 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 49 

CEMETERIES. 

Another necessity engaged the early attention of our fathers. 
At the same second town meeting, held in September, 1767, at 
which provision was made for the services of religion, there was 
also secured a ground for burial. Previous to this time Mrs. Cy- 
rus Rice held been buried in Deerfield; and an infant child of Silas 
Rawson and a child of John Thwing, three years old, at a spot, 
not marked, a little south of Mr. Emerson's house. The first 
ground then laid out for bur\ing was that now known as the 
Emerson Yard, on the slope of the hill east of Mr. Emerson's 
house. The place is spoken of as lying near "the saw mill" 
which then stood below, upon the ri\-er, where the mill dam now is. 
Here was brought, in December following, a son of Israel Rice, one 
year old, drowned while his father and mother forded South River 
on horseback by night, and, after an interval of fifteen months, 
John Thwing, the first adult person buried in Conway. 

In 1772 land was purchased of Elias Dickinson for a second 
burial yard westward, in the rear of the meeting house, which 
had then been placed and built. This ground has been long 
unused; only the ancient gravestones are on it. In 1845 there 
was laid out, one and a half miles north of the center of the 
town, Pine Grove Cemetery, where, since that time, the most 
of our dead have been buried. There are also other burial 
places in the remoter parts of the town. 

Into these, the villages of the dead, which began at first to 
be so slowly occupied, have been gathered since, sometimes by 
rapid and ever by sure accessions, a population outnumbering 
that which is still found in the houses of the living. 

The total of deaths recorded is 2,183. The yearly average for 
the century is thus 21tVV. The average for the last thirty 
years, to the beginning of 1867, has been lljiyu, while for the last 
ten years it has been ?>3u,. It will thus be seen that the rate 
of mortality has increased toward the latter part of this period. 
This increase is due partly to the fact that the town was 
occupied at first mostly by people who were young, and like 
all emigrants they were doubtless more robust and vigorous 
than the average of the population from which they came. 
The same causes withal are now reversed in operation; taking 
away from us the young and lea\ing the old. 



50 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

It may here also be appropriately mentioned that there are 
now living in Conway (1867) 57 persons — and the enumeration 
may not be complete — who are above 70 years of age. And 
there are eighteen who have reached 80 years or more. 

ROADS. 
It has been commonly supposed that the first county road 
leading from Deerfield to Ashfield, through Conway, left the 
Mill Brook valley just above the old "Hawks' place," passing 
up the hill to the left by Cyrus Rice's, and thence over the 
Jonas Rice hill (where Joel Rice now is) to Pumpkin Hollow, 
from which point it turned northward, crossing South River 
near the post ofiice, then rising the hill by Franklin Arms's, 
and continuing on by the Amsden (now Guilford) places 
into Ashfield. The latter part only of this course is correctly 
stated. The laying out of the first half of the above described 
route in town roads can be traced on the Records, and plain 
references fix the county road on another track. The laying 
out of this road "from Deerfield to Huntstown" in 1754 has 
already been referred to. From the record, kept at North- 
ampton, it is only to be learned that there was then a cart track 
leading from the top of Long Hill in Deerfield, to a sawmill 
on Mill Brook (which no doubt was near where the sawmill 
below the "Hawks' place" now stands), and that just before 
coming to the mill "the Huntstown Path" turned northward 
from the cart track "into the woods," and that the said county 
road was laid out ten rods in width following this path through 
its whole course. The road kept upon the hills just north of 
Mill Brook until it reached the spot where Robert Hamilton 
afterward settled (at Madison Stearns') and then turned squarely 
to the left across the valley, rising past the place of William 
Avery Howland and passing over the top of the hill, some distance 
to the north of the present road, and descending to the old 
Jonathan Whitney place, northeast of Capt. Charles Parsons'. 
The next stage alone is in some doubt. The road probably bore 
toward the north, crossing the river a little above where is now 
the dam built by Gen. Asa Howland, near his house, and at the 
foot of the old burying-yard hill, and from thence westerly to the 
neighborhood of the Baptist meeting house; and thence over 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 51 

Arms's Hill, as before described. The first bridge over South 
River was probably at the spot just mentioned. But it was 
swept away within three or four years, at the farthest, and was 
never replaced — the passage remaining afterwards a ford- 
way. The first bridge built after the incorporation of the 
town appears to have been not far from the post office, where 
the road now crosses. The fixing of the center of the town 
and the location of the meeting house near it drew the roads 
more to the southward; and led finally to the entire discon- 
tinuance of this middle portion of the old count}' road. Withal, 
as to the road over the Jonas Rice hill, from the east, the same 
attraction to the center, taken in connection with the fact that 
the southeastern portion of the town became early quite popu- 
lous, will account for its being, as it certainly was, a line of 
much passage. The opening of the route next to be spoken 
of may afterwards have contributed to bring, or to keep, travel 
on that track. 

A second county road, laid in 1785, led from the old meet- 
ing house over the hill to Consider Arms's (now Elijah Arms's) 
through what has since become Burkeville, and thence up the 
river to the large dam lately built, and then, crossing the hill 
on the south, it struck down again upon the valley a mile and 
a half above, and continued on to Ashfield, and beyond to the 
county line. The gap in the valley above the dam was sup- 
plied in 1824. It weis reckoned a hard road to build; and 
Deacon Elisha Billings eloquently declared in town meeting that 
it led through a gorge "into which the sun in heaven had not 
shone since the morning of creation." Still later, in 1837, the 
river line was completed by the road from the bridge near the 
post office up the valley to the old gristmill. On the east the 
road to Deerfield was brought down from the hills to the side of 
Mill Brook, where it now is, in 1832. 

The roads to Broomshire and South Part were laid in 1767; 
those to West Street, Cricket Hill, and Poland in 1769. The 
present improved South Part road dates from 1846; the Broom- 
shire from 1847; the Cricket Hill from 1850; and the new Shel- 
burne Falls road from 1856. 

The tracks at first were marked with a purpose to reach and 
connect the settlers' houses. The houses were on hills, where 



52 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the soil could be most easily worked; and not in swamps and 
gullies. So the roads kept well on the uplands. Here, too, 
they were made with less work, required fewer bridges, and 
were for these days i-eally better roads than valley roads could 
have been. Though these highways were at first mere paths 
for horses and men, and next no more than cart tracks, yet the 
amount of hard work done upon them within twenty years from 
the occupation of the town must have been prodigious. They 
seem to have been early put in creditable shape for the country 
and the time. It is related that when Dr. Samuel Ware came to 
Conway, about 1770, his wife, struck with the good appearance 
of the roads, remarked that "there might some day be chaises in 
this town"; a womanly fancy which her husband rebuked as 
wild and extravagant. It was not long, however, before Parson 
Emerson had a chaise. Others followed him later. Lucius 
AUis and Elisha Clark grew aristocratic enough after a time 
to ride each in his "hack." One-horse wagons were not known 
till the beginning of the present century. The first one was 
built by Robert Hamilton, who was a clockmaker; and a suffi- 
ciently solid man to need a carriage. He thought himself the 
inventor of the institution; and held that there was not another 
like it in all America. Not far from the same time Dr. Ware 
built the first single sleigh or "cutter." Before then the lively 
young people went sleighing upon wood sleds,' or haply on a 
"pung"; saving that it was more fashionable to go horseback. 

It may be observed that for conveying their baggage the 
first settlers sometimes made a rack, like a broad ladder, with 
stout side pieces between which in front they put a horse, trailing 
the rear end on the ground. This instrument was called "a car." 
The men who went early beyond us up the Deerfield Ri\-er used 
such; but cast them, aside on reaching the smoother country at 
the foot of the hill toward Shelburne Falls. The strange looking 
wrecks thus left attracted the attention of a philosophical traveler, 
who repaired to a native for an explanation. He was informed 
that Satan with part of a legion had once been traveling down 
the valley and at this spot, not liking the looks of the road and 
bethinking him of the river, he had taken to navigation and left 
behind him his land gear. It may be added that although the 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 53 

ways in that neighborhood have been much improved, this per- 
sonage has not been seen there since, — nor indeed in any part 
of the town. Other cars more modern may this year be run- 
ning past the hills over which the old racks were drawn. 

LOCALITIES. 
Some note may here be made of the names of localities in 
our town. Cricket Hill was so called first by a party of hunt- 
ers who were annoyed by the crickets as they camped there 
for a night. Captain Childs, in the calm and confident exercise 
of that foreseeing faculty which belongs ever to the true his- 
torian, declares that as "it has been known by that name from 
that day to this" so it "will continue to be as long as the hills 
remain." I here ofificially reaffirm the declaration. "Hard- 
scrabble" sets forth that it is hard scrabbling on that soil to 
live. Of Hoosac I have no satisfactory explanation. Broom- 
shire, as is well known, has its name from the walnut brooms 
William Warren made and sold in Deerfield, one broom for 
a pound and a half of pork. He did it because he was hungry; 
being out of meat for several years by winter. He used to walk 
first to Deerfield to get a horse and "pung" to carry his brooms. 
Concerning Shirkshire Captain Childs shall give the narration. 
"Old Mr. Sherman," he says — it was doubtless John Sherman, — 
"happened along as the people were upon the roads, and at their 
request assisted them a number of hours-, hoping thereby to 
earn and get his dinner. But no one seemed willing (as the 
services rendered were for the public) to bear the burden alone, — 
they all shirked, and left him to shirk for himself as best he could. 
Highly indignant at the neglect with which he was treated he 
left the place in a state of great excitement, saying, 'Let it be 
called Shirkshire from this day forward ' ; and so it has been and 
will be as long as wood grows and water runs." It is an affair of 
seriousness; and the ordinance looks unchangeable. But one 
main feature escaped the historian's eye. The time was doubt- 
less while the district belonged to Shelburne. The thing was 
not done, as of course it never could have been, in Conway. 
Remembering this, and considering that it is not just that the 
children's teeth should be forever set on edge because the father 
ate no grapes — or other dinner — I suggest that we might 



54 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

at once propitiate the hungry and indignant shade of John 
Sherman and commemorate the integrity and manly vigor of 
his son Caleb, by calling that district Sherman Corner; or by 
fixing in some other similar manner that family name upon it. 
As to Poland, Captain Childs professes that he knows no deri- 
vation for the name, and thinks it must be due to the deeply 
planted liberty-loving and slavery-hating instincts of its people, — 
allying them to the Polanders of Europe. The prevalence there 
of these noble sentiments is a matter of conspicuous knowledge, 
and this is the association which the title should ever suggest, 
but the serious verities of history constrain me to record that the 
name itself originated in the strife of two boys over the skins of 
certain slain "Pole Cats." I do not know but the animal may 
also bear another name. Of "the city" no account is preserved, 
except that two girls, about to depart from it, left it the name. 
It obviously comes of the great number of buildings the neigh- 
borhood has— room for. Lastly, in the center is Pumpkin 
Hollow. Into it the pumpkins once rolled from the eastern if 
not also from the western cultivated slope. We hear that there 
are those who have ventured to tamper with the wholesome and 
savory and venerable appellation. Let it not be done. Clothed 
to-day with the prophetic mantle my predecessor dropped, I 
make it here to be known that, so long as the greatest of those 
vegetable orbs will roll from the top of Field's or Newhall's 
hill the valley that lies between shall be called of men Pumpkin 
Hollow. For the information of the curious mind I will add 
that the locality sometimes entitled "Church Green" is in 
Pumpkin Hollow. 

CLOTHING. 

The dress worn by the first settlers and their families was, 
as might be supposed, of the plainest fabric. Tow cloth and 
linsey-woolsey were the common materials for men and boys. 
Some men, not of the tailors' craft, and not forced either to 
such a resort, used to cut for themselves the garment that was 
worn where pantaloons ought to be. Stout linen, checked or 
striped with blue, was for Sunday wear. The busy wives and 
daughters spun and wove it; and wore it also for themselves. 
So they made table and pocket linen; very similar, of which 
here is a specimen (displaying a checked handkerchief made in 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 55 

the old time). No Conway man is expected to-day to use one 
of any other description. Infant children were baptized wearing 
dresses of this material. Our stylish girls had then for winter 
flannel frocks, red or of butternut color, which they made and 
dyed themselves. They became irresistibly charming when 
they added a Boston ribbon for the waist and neck. Silks, 
though not absolutely unknown, were very rare. And so, too, 
was cotton. For many years a first-class bridal suit was of 
calico. When the town had a representative at the General 
Court it was often sent for by him. The cost was a dollar a 
yard. As to the quantity required there are no means at the 
present time for forming a judgment. 

There is evidence withal that what they had they took care of. 
The young women, coming on Sunday to meeting, would not 
put on their best shoes until they were near the meeting house; 
wearing for the most of the way some coarser covering of art — 
or a finer one of nature. Often, though less uniformly, dresses 
as well as shoes were thus changed. I know not what ignomin- 
ious man has cut down that chestnut tree near the western foot 
of the Jonas Rice hill that was the favorite dressing shelter of the 
maidens from the East Side and the South Part. As to the boys, 
shoes were of no account to them except in the very coldest 
months. Bonnets were prolonged "shakers." There is a 
South Part story that Capt. Lucius AUis used to keep cider — 
which may be believed — at some place near the meeting house 
to be had with the Sunday dinners, and that the women attempt- 
ing to take a share — which is not so clear — were much embar- 
rassed by reason of these bonnets. It is not believed that the 
present style would give occasion to such difficulties. Disre- 
garding the cider, I do not know but there may be found those 
who will acquiesce in the change by which the faces of the moth- 
ers' daughters have ceased to be so entirely inaccessible. 

However this almost exclusively domestic provision for cloth- 
ing may now please the imagination, there is abundant evidence 
that it did not then adequately protect the body. Captain 
Childs speaks of the clothing of the early inhabitants as "utterly 
insufficient"; and facts transmitted to us will sustain his state- 
ment. That the settlers were generally healthy and that many 
of them lived to a great age, makes nothing against it. Vigor of 



56 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

constitution supported them; and the strength that comes of 
working and sleeping in good air. Moreover, as to the children 
the healthiness of the early times is not admitted. 

It is pleasing to be able to reflect that notwithstanding 
poverty of dress and badness of the roads, with lack of car- 
riages, the first people here did not neglect social intercourse. 
Malachi Maynard used to come evenings with his family two 
miles down the hill to call on his neighbor Consider Arms. His 
wife carried one child, he another; and there was left for him his 
right hand for a burning pine knot to light the way and keep off 
wolves. So they refreshed themselves after their day's work. 
When Mr. Emerson brought his young wife, Sabra Cobb, from 
Boston in 1770, almost the whole town came together to the 
reception at the house of Consider Arms. It may be guessed it 
was a new side of life the lady saw. The report is still heard of 
the kisses she enjoyed — or endured. On this occasion her 
resolution to do appears also to have been equal to her fortitude 
to suffer. Eli Dickinson said the kiss he received was "the 
sweetest he had ever had." Whereat his wife gave him the 
boxing he deserved. Mrs. Emerson was a lady if she came from 
Boston. She had a silk umbrella; and because there was not an 
umbrella among her people she never carried it; but long after 
she made the silk into bonnets for her daughters. One day 
when Mr. Emerson w^as away a man brought to her house a 
choice piece of pork. To her horror he told her that his hog 
had died that morning "of a sore throat." She thanked him 
graciously, but being afraid her husband would be angry — for 
his temper rose on due occasion — and wishing to hide a matter 
for trouble, she threw it away with the refuse for soap. Mr. 
Emerson, however, had heard of the gift, and came home to 
inquire, too late, after his expected dinner. 

Thus the town was entered upon, cleared, and populated. 

Man had his home in the wilderness of the deer, and the wolf, 

and the bear. And the varied scenes of human history began 

here to be enacted. 

WAR. 

The Revolutionary War was soon coming on. Our fathers, 
though poorly prepared at that early day to contribute in car- 
rying it forward, yet entered heartily upon it. They made haste 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 57 

in 1774 to assure the Boston Committee of Correspondence that 
they should join with them in "all Lawful and Salutary Measures 
for the Recovery of those Inestimable Priviledges Wrested from 
us, and firmly to secure those that remain, for we are sensible," — 
say they, — "yt should we Renounce our Liberty and Priviledges 
we should Renounce the Quality of men and the Rights of hu- 
manity." They shortly directed that the selectmen should pro- 
vide "two barrels of powder and lead and flints answerable for a 
town stock of ammunition." (Lrom the first the town had kept 
some "stock" of these articles.) They " Established a Resolve," 
appointing a committee of thirteen men to have an eye on the 
conduct of any persons that should "Do or speak anything 
that tends to Render LTniting of the People in opposing ye kings 
laws yt Infringed on their rights," and to adjudge to such persons 
"a Certain Competency of Punishment to be Inflicted on them 
not Exceeding the punishment of Contempt and Neglect"; 
and they added the restriction, "Yt the said Committy nor no 
Other p<^rson shall not have power to go out of this town Except 
it be to assist a mob in the General Good Cause (viz.) in Prohib- 
iting Persons taking or holding Commissions under the Present 
Constitution, Except it be for their own perticular Bisness." 
This committee of thirteen, as at first chosen, consisted of 
Deacon Samuel Wells, Deacon Joel Baker, Lieut. Thomas 
French, Jonas Rice, Oliver Wetmore, Cyrus Rice, Consider 
Arms, Robert Oliver, James Dickinson, Israel Gates, Josiah 
Boyden, Elisha Clark, and Alexander Oliver. In July, 1775, 
the old committee was dismissed. Captain Arms and some 
others beginning to hold back from extreme measures, and 
Samuel Crittenden, Jonathan Whitney, Malachi Maynard, 
James Gilmore, John Thwing, Jonas Rice, Isaac Amsden, Captain 
Clark, and Israel Rice were put in their stead. 

On the 24th of May, 1776, being assembled at the meeting 
house, and having appointed a committee to frame the vote, 
they proceeded to declare that "If the Honorable Continantial 
Congress Should think it Requisit for the Safety of the North- 
american Coloneys on this Continent to Declare a State of In- 
dependency of Greatbriton that we will abide By and Conform 
to their wisdom to the Expense of our lives and fortunes." Im- 
pressed, it seems, with the weightiness of the occasion, the 



58 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

recording officer adds: "N. B. The above menchaned meeting 
was Called on purpose for the above business and the Town 
Voted Affairmative 83, Negative 6. Cyrus Rice, Moderat or. 
A trew coppy from the Minits, attest, Oliver Wetmore, Town 
Clerk." 

They stood resolutely by this pledge through the war. The 
number of men they furnished is not known. It was as many 
as was called for. The names are not all preserved ; many have 
been already mentioned. In 1777, when Burgoyne was marching 
from the north, every able-bodied man went out to meet him. 
It was thought when he sent off Baum toward Bennington, that 
he meant to strike across the country eastward to the seaboard. 
The alarm was beat on the Sabbath day by the meeting house. 
Boys were sent to spread the call. One of them, a son of Robert 
Hamilton, seven years old then, was living three years ago and 
could tell of the errand he went on. He could remember, too, 
how there was left in that neighborhood but one, a lame man, 
who helped the women and boys gather in the corn on the farms. 
Mother and boy were little ready for the work. It was 
the year of the great sickness and the saddest autumn harvest 
our town has ever known. One was taken of nearly every 
twelve of all its inhabitants. And of the children there must have 
been buried one for every three or four. 

The fear of invasion this year led to more apprehension con- 
cerning the resident Tories. At a town meeting held August 
24, it was resolved "to proceed to some measure to Secure the 
Enemical persons Called Tories amongst us"; and the account 
goes on, "then the Question was Put Wheather we would draw 
a line between ye Continent and Great Briton. Voted in the 
affiarmative. Voted that all those Persons that Stand on the 
Side of the Contanant Take up arms and go on hand and hand 
with us in Carrying on the war against our Unnatural Enemies, 
Such we Receive as Friends and all others treat as Enemies. 
Voted that the Broad alley be a line, and the South end of the 
meeting hous be the Continant Side, and the North End the 
British Side then moved for Trial and found 6 persons to stand 
on the British Side (viz.) Elijah Billings, Jonathan Oakes, Wm. 
Billings, Joseph Catlin, Joel Dickinson and Elias Dickinson. 
Voted to set a gard over those Enemical persons. Voted the 



THK FIRST CENTURY. 59 

Town Clerk Emmediately Desire Judge Mather to Issew out his 
warrants against those Enemical persons returned to him in a 
list heretofore." These six only, of the score or so of Tories 
that may have been in the town, seem to have chosen to at- 
tend the meeting that day. They were less malignant than 
in some other towns. And there was little or no violence used 
against them. A sharp eye only was kept on them at critical 
times, and their guns were taken away. After the war. Captain 
Arms, by much persistence, got his gun again in his own keeping. 

In 1778 the town voted to accept the propositions made by 
the Continental Congress for a union between the states. The 
towns were of consequence in those early times. Both in this 
case and in deliberating a little later upon the adoption of a 
state constitution, the business was conducted almost as if the 
local organization had been an independent nation. There was 
no returning of votes for and against to be counted along with 
votes from other towns, as is now done. The town voted, 
bodily, one way or the other on the whole proposition, or if it 
saw fit, on each of its parts, accepting or rejecting; or advising 
to such modifications as were desired. 

Throughout the Revolutionary period the currency was in 
a very unsettled state. The government issued paper money to 
carry on the war. This caused inflation and high prices. Our 
fathers, not wiser than others of their generation, undertook 
to check the rise by establishing fixed rates for work and com- 
modities. The following are specimens, from among many, 
of the prices settled upon: "Men's labor three shillings per day 
in the summer season;" "fresh Poark of the best quality," 
three pence per pound; "good grass fed beef," two pence one 
farthing; "Best Cheas," six pence; "good Spanish potatoes in 
the fall of the year, " one shilling; "Yern Stockings of the best 
sort," six shillings "a pare"; "good Sap berials," three shillings, 
and "all other cooper work in proportion"; "good common 
meals of Victuals at Taverns Exclusive of Sider, " nine pence, 
and "other meals in proportion"; " Horsekeeping a Night, or 
twenty-four howers," ten pence; "shoeing horses all round. 
Steal, tow and heal," six shillings four pence; "good yerd wide 
toa cloth," two shillings three pence, and "other cloth in propor- 
tion"; "a man with a sufficient team to plow or drag shant 



60 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

exceed" six shillings per day; "hors travel" two pence "per 
mile"; "to pasturing a horse on good feed," one shilling six 
pence; "a yoak of oxen," two shillings, and all other creatures in 
proportion. It is hard to keep the stream from rising while 
the rain continues to fall. This legislation did not prevent the 
town from subsequently paying Daniel Newhall fifteen dollars 
per day for "ten days riding to hire money" to pay soldiers; 
and twenty dollars for a man's work on the highway. 

Near the end of the war it was voted in town meeting to 
ask the General Court for liberty to make a Lottery with Deer- 
field to raise money to build a bridge over Deerfield River,— an 
item which I note for the comfort of those who are pained by 
the corruption of these degenerate days. 

When independence came it did not bring at once prosperity 
with it. The war had made people poor; and they were poor 
before. Large sums of money had been called for. Many 
were brought into debt, and this, together with the depreciation 
of the continental money to almost utter worthlessness, caused 
great distress. The times came when without law a man worked 
a day for twenty cents in silver. Meanwhile, and out of these 
causes, arose the disreputable troubles connected with Shays' 
rebellion. Poverty and debts brought it on. The pressure of 
them is to be admitted in palliation. But for the reason in what 
was attempted, impartial history and all sober reflection have 
pronounced it folly. Courts were to be broken up and govern- 
ments overthrown that debts might not be collected. Yet the 
delusion bore away men of clear minds and of unquestionable 
patriotism. Malachi Maynard, Captain Dinsmore, and our 
"Captain Barefoot" and many others, mostly from the southern 
half of the town, went into the riotous and revolutionary pro- 
ceedings. There was great sympathy with the movement 
through the whole town; and a very few only resolutely opposed 
it. Along with much other action of the same sort it was voted, 
October 24, 1785, to instruct our representative to use his in- 
fluence in the General Court "to have a Bank of Paper money 
emitted that shall sink one penny a pound per month." The 
clearness that belongs through all time to what is financial is in 
this. We cannot wonder that, meditating on such matters, 
the men of the south end concluded to rebel. 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 61 

POPULATION. 

During all this period Conway was growing rapidly in pop- 
ulation, both by natural increase and by immigration from 
abroad. Of those who came in were the Howlands — of whom we 
have the orator of to-day — with a pedigree straight from the 
"Mayflower," the Wares and the Billingses, with Clary, Parsons, 
Childs, Field, Dunham, Hopkins, Bigelow, Hayden, Stebbins 
and Andrews, with \-ery many others. The jxjpulation of 
Conway in 1790 was 2,092. There were but iwo larger towns 
in the county of Hampshire, embracing what are now the three 
river counties. These were West Springfield and Westfield. The 
rank of some of the principal towns as then was follows: West 
Springfield 2,367, Westfield 2,204, Conway 2,092,. Northampton 
1,628, Springfield 1,574, Greenfield 1,498, Deerfield 1,330. The 
figures for Conway throughout its first hundred years may here 
be given. Date of incorporation, estimated population 200. 
1769 estimated by Mr. Emerson between 400 and 500; 1776, 
905; 1790. 2,092; 1800, 2.013; 1810, 1,784; 1820, 1,705; 1830, 
1,563; 1840,1,409; 1850,1,831; 1860,1,689. The number was 
at the highest between 1790 and 1800. The farmhouses stood 
thickly over all the hills. There were thirty on the road from 
the old meeting house over Field's Hill and Popple Hill, to the 
Whately line. These houses were well filled withal; ten or 
twelve children being often found in one dwelling. The schools 
also were large, much beyond what they are now. In the Broom- 
shire district there were once nearly one hundred scholars; now 
there are scarcely twenty. As late as 1816 William A. How- 
land kept a school of more than sixty scholars in his own, the 
East side district (late No. 2), which district, having almost no 
children, has ceased to have a separate existence. These are 
but specimens. 

At this period Conway, suitabh- to its position as a leading 
town, had its newspaper. It was the Farmers' Register, pub- 
lished weekly in the years 1798 and 1799, by Theodore Leonard. 
It was printed first in the house now occupied by Osee Adams 
(then standing a little southeast of where the Baptist meeting 
house now is, and afterwards used as a tinshop), and later "a 
few rods north of the meeting house" in Pumpkin Hollow, in 



62 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the building recently occupied by Lucy Severance. It had for 
its motto the lines from Thomson: — 

"Here truth unlicensed reigns, and dares accost 
Even kings themselves, or rulers of the free." 

Both truth and error must in fact have "reigned" with^ 
out license or other control in Mr. Leonard's paper. He had 
no editorial sentiments, and published with a looseness whatever 
came to his hand, on all sides. Part was Federal, part Republi- 
can, part moral, part more thoroughly the opposite than would 
be tolerated in any paper now circulating among us, — which 
again it is hoped rnay comfort a little those that mourn for the 
times. 

News from Washington was published in Conway in twenty 
days, and from London, sometimes in sixty, sometimes in ninety 
days. The advertisements were largely of stock, lost or taken 
up. Asahel Wood, the negro, gave notice to the people that he 
"proposed to discontinue ringing the bell but once a day, unless 
some encouragement was given him, by subscription or other- 
wise." The poet's corner is full of Delias and Clorindas, after 
the dull manner of all the poetry of the 18th century. 

The population of the town, as has been said, was greatest 
near the close of the last century. It was at this period that 
there began the great outward flow of emigration from us to 
the westward, which has not ceased to the present time. It 
went first to Central and Western New York, then to Northern 
Ohio, then beyond to Michigan and Illinois, and then still further 
to Iowa, or wherever now the West may be. How many have 
gone is not known. But the descendants of these children of 
Conway towards the West must far outnumber those that still 
remain upon her soil. One may travel over all that region and 
rest morning, noon, and night, in the homes of these Conway 
men. Viewed in all its results the going out from us of this 
great emigration is not perhaps to be regretted. We may wish, 
however, that it had not been accelerated and indeed necessitated 
by the improvident husbandry of the first generations of farmers. 
The soil was thriftlessly drawn from and its riches spent. The 
steep and fruitful hillsides were plowed and sowed, and suffered 
to be washed by the rains, often for many successive years, until 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 63 

they would yield no more. The effects of this wretched cul- 
ture are still too plainly visible. The process of waste has 
been arrested; and it may be hoped it is being reversed. It 
is believed that the productive capacity of the soil is at present 
increasing rather than diminishing. As interested in the pros- 
perity of the town we must regret however that so much of the 
best pasturing ground we have, in the east and south, is passing 
into the poSvSession of non-resident owners. 

It is to be said, moreover, that the men of this middle period 
of our history did not make in all cases the most profitable use 
of what the soil could produce. Enormous crops of apples were 
raised, which went into cider, and then into brandy. It seemed 
to be making rich those that sold, but it made poor more that 
bought, or that drank of their own production. There were 
probably fifty cider mills and upwards, and there were at the 
least six distilleries, all in operation at the same time. One of 
them consumed a thousand barrels of cider annually. Brandy 
took off much barn boarding, and overthrew many fences and 
men. Parson Emerson, in 1819, congratulated the town that it 
had "so few comparatively downright sots." Yet he speaks 
with earnestness against the evil. And there was need that the 
word "comparatively" should then be introduced. The change 
from that time, if it is not complete, is a great and happy one. 

INDUSTRIES. 
The first gristmill was built about the year 1767, by Caleb 
Sharp. Another was built in 1770 or 1771, below the Thwing 
place, in the north part of the town. There was also a third 
for a few years on Bear River, above the Macomber bridge. 
Every one bolted his own grist at first, in a hand-bolt. Saw- 
mills were in operation all along South River, and on some 
other streams. There were several tanneries while the hem- 
lock bark held out. One establishment of this kind is now in 
operation, located on South River, near the post office, and 
owned by William T. Clapp. Very near the site of this tannery 
Aaron Hayden set up a "fulling mill," about 1780. About 
1797 Dr. Moses Hayden, with R. Wells (his son-in-law), made an 
addition of an oil mill. The cakes of meal rolled into the river, 
save as the boys took them to play "grindstone." In 1810 



64 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

there was established here a broadcloth manufactory, and again 
a cotton mill; and with changes and disasters the concern was 
finally destroyed by fire, in 1856, while under the management of 
B. W. Wright. The woolen mill of the Conway Manufacturing 
Company, incorporated in 1837, was built nearly half a mile 
higher up the stream. A larger one, which now stands, replaced 
the first not far from 1846. It was under the direction and 
subsequent ownership of Edmund Burke, whose name the upper 
village bears. And it has now passed into the possession of 
Edward Delabarre. Midway between these two is a cotton 
mill, erected in 1846, by Gen. James S. Whitney and Charles 
Wells, burned in 1856, while owned by L. B. Wright, replaced, 
and now owned by the firm of Tucker & Cook. These parties 
built in 1866 a fine stone dam, making a large reservoir, a mile 
westward up the river. Three quarters of a mile below the 
post office, Messrs. Tucker & Cook also own a cotton mill, erected 
in 1837 by Gen. Asa Rowland. A large manufactory of tools 
was established in Burkeville, under the direction of Alonzo 
Parker, not far from 1845, about forty rods above the woolen 
mill. The building was burned in 1851, and the company 
removed to Greenfield. The South River Cutlery Company 
began operations in 1851, erecting a building in Burkeville, on 
the right bank of the river, toward the old center of the town. 
Here for four or five years were made knives, forks, and great 
losses, until the business was closed up, and the buildings at 
length mostly removed. Besides these comb manufacture was 
formerly carried on by Deacon Jonathan Ware, and by his sons, 
at the place now occupied by Lemuel S. Boies. And tinware 
has been made from an early period, at one time largely in 
Sherman Corner, and since then at various establishments in the 
middle of the town. The Conway Stock and Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company began business in 1849. The Stock Com- 
pany subsequently went to Boston, and to final grievous disso- 
lution. The Mutual department remains and prospers. The 
Conway Bank has a capital of S150,000. and has been in suc- 
cessful operation since 1854. 

POLITICS. 
The first record of voting for Governor of the State appears in 
September, 1780, soon after the adoption of the State Constitution. 



THF FIRST CENTURY. 65 

For many years when John Hancock, patriot and RepubH- 
can, was candidate for Governor, he took almost the entire 
vote; though on other offices there was division. As parties 
began to form near the end of the century Conway became 
Federalist. There are strong reasons for thinking that purely 
political considerations would not, in our town, have led to 
this result. There were tendencies, from the time of Shays' re- 
bellion, and from the Revolution, looking in the other direction. 
But the supposed, or real, pointing of the great figure of Wash- 
ington w^as towards the Federal side. And the dread especially 
of infidel sentiments in religion associated with the name of 
Jefferson, proved decisive here, as it did throughout most of 
New England. Yet there were Republicans in respectable 
numbers. In 1804 the vote stood. Federal 134, Republican 63. 
In 1808 Gore (Fed.) had 142 votes for Governor, and Sullivan 
(Rep.), 123. In 1812 Strong (Fed.) received 181, Gerry (Rep.), 
136. These figures represent the ordinary relative strength of 
the two parties. The town representatives were all one way. 
The first gap in the Federal succession occurs in 1824, when 
John Arms was chosen. But this was after the lines were broken, 
and while we were "All Republicans, all Federalists." 

During the earlier years, embracing the period from the 
beginning of the century to the close of the war with P^ngland, 
the contest was carried on, as it was over all the country, with 
great zeal. There was also a degree of personal animosity which 
has not been equaled since, so far as relates to our town or this 
section of the country, in the history of our politics. Political 
feeling entered then far more than now into the relations of 
social life. Opposition of party between some families at times 
seriously disturbed neighborly intercourse. Political agreement, 
on the other hand, aided more powerfully perhaps than it has 
since in the formation of friendly connections. 

Many incidents are preserved from those times, illustrating 
the liveliness of political feeling that then existed. When either 
party raised a "liberty pole," it was not an easy thing to keep 
the flag on its staff. Upon the day before a Fourth of July the 
Republicans lifted one in and above the elm tree by the Baptist 
meeting house. That flag they declared should fly undisturbed; 
and that the thing might be made sure, they set an armed watch 



66 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

through the night in the meeting house. But Jesse Severance 
walked carelessly under the tree and leaned against it, and Levi 
Parsons ran up from his shoulders, whereafter what seemed the 
one man walked leisurely away. But with the morning light 
the Republican w^atchers saw not the flag of their country. 

The adventure also of the old Deerfield gun into our town at 
this period should be recorded. This gun is a legacy that the 
town had from the Indian wars. It appeared to some of our 
younger Republicans that, since Conway was early a part of Deer- 
field, and since Deerfield had become Federal, and since before in 
the Revolution it was always near to being Tory, — it appeared to 
them that the cannon should be allowed a breath of different air. 
The unusual circumstance of the election in Massachusetts of a 
Republican Governor greatly confirmed them in this impression. 
So it was that year that on the morning of the "old-fashioned 
Election," or Inauguration Day, the voice of the gun was heard, 
deep and strong, and frequent, from the ConAvay hills. The 
Deerfield men listened and comprehended. But they also dis- 
approved. They armed themselves and swarmed out in great 
anger upon the Conway road. General Hoyt being military 
leader, and all together the posse of Sheriff Saxton. The report 
of the coming invasion spread, and a crowd w^as collected to hold 
the gun ; or to see how the matter would go on. But the business 
grew serious, and the end was near to have been made in blood- 
shed. The cannon was carried into William Redfield's boarding 
house. "Bill Redfield" was of violent temper, and stood at 
nothing; and there were others w4th him of the same sort. They 
were ready to try keeping the house and the gun against all the 
Federalists of Deerfield. But the law looked the other way, — 
and so, after reflection, did the more sober men of the party. 
The piece was finally surrendered ; but with a distinct agreement 
that it should not be fired by the Deerfield men within the bounds 
of the town. So the old cannon went sullenly back along the 
road over which it had passed as it came up with a brisk step and 
sounding cheer. 

The contest over this gun has been continued in more recent 
times by the young men of Greenfield, which town was also for- 
merly included in Deerfield. The right of the matter is clear, and 
has happily become well fixed by time. The ownership of the 



THK FIRST CKNTHRY. 67 

gun belongs with Deerfield only; and Deerfield has a right to 
keep ic, while Conway and Greenfield have no right except to 
remove it whenever they can from Deerfield. 

The second war with England made little stir among us of a 
military sort, except that in 1814, when there was an alarm of 
British invasion on the coast, there went down a regiment from 
this section. The late Gen. Thomas Langley, of Hawley, was in 
command as Colonel, and Gen. Asa Howland, of our town, was 
Major. This was "Gov. Strong's war." The British prudently 
determined to have no part in it. 

When new political connections began to be made in the times 
of John Quincy Adams, and of Jackson, the town swung to the 
Whig side. Yet there was again a strong minority with what 
had then become the Democratic party. Questions growing out 
of the temperance reform entered here also largely into town pol- 
itics. And between 1830 and 1840 the choice of representatives 
was influenced by these nearly or quite as much as by national 
politics. The voice of the town in the Legislature for most of 
these years was given against the reform. But in this respect 
that was an exceptional period. In 1840 the Presidential vote 
stood: Harrison (Whig) 171, Van Buren (Dem.) 134. In 1844, 
Clay (Whig) 147, Polk (Dem.) 119. In those years respectively. 
Dr. E. D. Hamilton and Capt. Otis Childs represented the town 
in the Legislature. In 1848, Taylor (Whig) had 132, Cass 
(Dem.), 89. In 1852, Scott (Whig), 181, Pierce (Dem.) 131. 

Our townsman. Gen. James L. Whitney, whose presence we 
miss to-day, was on this Democratic electoral ticket. He had 
been representative in 1850, and he was chosen again in 1853. 
Saving these years all had been Whigs since 1838. 

These were the days of "the Coalition," a species of union 
which I am not now able very exactly to describe, made in Massa- 
chusetts between the Democratic party and the "Free Soil" 
party, then rising in numbers. For several years our town was 
more evenly divided between Whiggery and Coalition than it 
has ever been before or since on any other political issue. And 
as the choice of governor frequently devolved upon the Legisla- 
ture, no one having the popular majority then required, the 
contest for representative became active and exciting. There 
may be some of us still li\ing who have faint recollections of those 



68 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

times. We may have heard, also, of committee meetings late 
and early, of diligent study of the voting list, of hunting trips and 
cattle driving expeditions, planned for election day for patriotic 
young men and others, and of various reported chicaneries, said 
to have been devised for effect upon the doubtful ballot. These 
and such like things, — being unwilling to rest upon mere re- 
port, — I record not. But I willingly recall these traditions, and 
the memories also of much Whig and Coalition feasting and 
merriment, in the narrow halls of the Conway hotel, because 
there was good temper in it all; and because, looking back upon 
it from across the sterner days we have known, the sight is pleas- 
ing. May there be in the coming times contests for principles 
and laws and policies, or even for men, but not struggles for 
government and national existence itself. The passage of the 
"Nebraska Bill" in the spring of 1854, destroyed the national 
Whig party, weakened before, and brought into life the modern 
Republicanism. In 1856, Conway gave to Fremont (Rep.) 139 
votes, to Buchanan (Dem.) 81. The vote for governor for the 
same year stood, Gardner (Native American, or "Know Noth- 
ing") 129, Quincy (Rep.) 104, Beach (Dem.) 81. In 1860 all 
was Republican, Lincoln receiving 218 out of 260 votes. And at 
his re-election in 1864 there were given him 223, and to Gen. 
McClellan 62. 

It needs not here to be marked that these were the years 
of war for the Union, and for Freedom. The shock of the open- 
ing fight, the shouts of the early enthusiasm, the days of gloom, 
the alternations of fear and of hope that followed, the steadfast 
purpose that did not change, the noise at last, crash after crash, 
as the rebellion fell, and ringing over all the mighty sound of 
triumph for Liberty and Union, proved to be inseparable, and 
both made certain to abide, — all these are hardly yet as of 
yesterday. 

The citizens of the town — though political divisions still 
subsisted — were united, with only here and there an exception, 
which I forbear to name, in the maintenance of the govern- 
ment and the defense of the national life. The patriotic deter- 
mination approached nearer to unanimity than even in the first 
great war of independence. The women of Conway are meant 
to be included in these general statements. They were not behind 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 



69 



those of any part of the country in abundant labors for the soldiers 
in the field, or in efforts of any sort to sustain the high and steady 
tone of public feeling and to keep the great purpose fixed. 

To complete this review of our political history lists are here 
given of Representatives to the General Court, and also of the 
Town Clerks and Treasurers. These lists, though they have 
been re-examined in nearly every part, were made out as far as 
1844 by Captain Childs. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 



1776. 


C\rus Rice. 


1816. 


David Childs. 


1777. 


■" 


1816. 


Samuel Warren. 


1779. 


Jonathan Whitney. 


1818. 


Joel Parsons. 


1780. 


" 


1821. 


" " 


1780. 


Oliver Wetmore. 


1824. 


John Arms. 


1781. 


Lucius AUis. 


1826. 


Ira Amsden. 


1782. 


Prince Tobey. 


1827. 


John Arms. 


1783. 




1828. 


Joseph Avery. 


1785. 


" 


1829. 


" " 


1786. 


Robert Hamilton. 


1829. 


Samuel Warren. 


1787. 




1830. 


Charles E. BiUings. 


1788. 


Consider Arms. 


1831. 


" " 


1791. 


William Billings. 


1832. 


" " 


1792. 




1832. 


Darius Stearns. 


1793. 


" " 


1833. 


Billings & Stearns. 


1794. 


" 


1834. 




1795. 


Oliver Root. 


1835. 


C. E. Billings. 


1796. 


" 


1835. 


John Arms. 


1797. 




1836. 


C. E. Billings. 


1798. 


William Billings. 


1837. 


Phineas Bartlett. 


1799. 


Ma lac hi Maynard. 


1838. 


Christopher Arms. 


1800. 


" "' 


1839. 


E. D. Hamilton. 


1801. 


" " 


1840. 


" " " 


1803. 


Reuben Bardwell. 


1842. 


Otis Childs. 


1804. 




1843. 


" " 


1805. 


" 


1844. 


Nathaniel P. Baker 


1806. 


Capt. Bannister. 


1846. 


John Clary. 


1807. 


" 


1847. 


" " 


1808. 


" 


1850. 


James S. Whitney. 


1809. 


, ohn Williams. 


1851. 


Otis Childs. 


1809. 


saac Baker. 


1852. 


E. Fisher .\mes. 


1810. 


John Williams. 


1853. 


ames S. Whitney. 


1811. 


" " 


1854. 


'.. Fisher Ames. 


1811. 


David Childs. 


1855. 


Edwin Cooley. 


1812. 


Williams & Childs. 


1856. 


R. A. Coffin. 


1813. 


Elisha Joinings. 


1857. 


Wm. C. Campbell. 


1813. 


David Childs. 


1861. 


Emory Sherman. 


1814. 


Billings & Childs. 


1862. 


Franklin Pease. 


1815. 




1866. 


Austin Rice. 



From its incorporation to the end of town representation in 
1856 the town failed to send a representative in 24 years, includ- 
ing eight years before 1776. For many years the town, and not 



70 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the state, paid its representative; a circumstance which doubt- 
less had weight in deciding the question whether to send. 



TOWN CLERKS. 



1767 to 1775. 
1776 to 1783. 
1784 to 1806. 
1807 to 1826. 
1827 to 1836. 
1837 to 1841. 



1767 to 1775. 

1776. 

1777 to 1783. 

1784 to 1796. 

1797 to 1799. 

1800 to 1811. 

1812 to 1815. 

1816. 

1817 to 1840. 



Consider Arms. 
Oliver Wetmore. 
Oliver Root. 
David Childs. 
Elisha Billings. 
Otis Childs. 



1842. 

1843 to 1851. 

1852 to 1854. 

1855. 

1856 to 1860. 

1861 to 1867. 



TOWN TREASURERS. 



Consider Arms. 
Elisha Amsden. 
Benjamin Pulsifer. 
Malachi Maynard. 
John Williams. 
Malachi Maynard. 
Elisha Billings. 
Malachi Maynard. 
Phineas Bartlett. 



1841 to 1845. 
1846 to 1849. 
1850 to 1851. 
1852. 
1853. 

1854 to 1855. 
1856 to 1863. 
1864 to 1867. 



Otis Leach. 
James S. Whitney. 
E. F. Ames. 
Eurotas Wells. 
Franklin Childs. 
H. W. Billings 



Anson Shepherd. 
Wm. C. Campbell. 
Gurdon Edgerton. 
T. S. Dickinson. 
Gurdon Edgerton. 
T. S. Dickinson. 
Gurdon Edgerton. 
H. W. Billings. 



PROFESSIONAL MEN. 

The physicians living and practicing in Conway have been 

as follows: Doctors Moses Hayden, Samuel Ware, Kit- 

tredge, R. Wells, Halloway, W^illiam Hamilton, George 

Rogers, Washington Hamilton; and E. D. Hamilton, who is 
now in practice. And of the homoeopathic order: Dr. H. A. 
Collins, Dr. Wilson; and Dr. D. T. Vining, who is still practicing. 
There have gone abroad from us, Dr. Joseph Emerson, son of 
John Emerson, and Doctors Eben Wells, Elisha Clark, William 
Billings, Lyman Bartlett, and Oliver D. Root. 

Of resident lawyers the town has had William Billings, father 
and son; Albert Clark, now of Independence, Iowa; and for a 
short time, Edward P. Burnham, now of Saco, Me. It has sent 
abroad a larger number. Among them are William Maynard, 
son of Malachi, and inheritor of his father's strength, going to 
Central New York, and not now living; Moses Hayden, Judge in 
New York, and not living; Samuel Eliot Perkins, Judge in 
Indiana; Henry Billings, Judge in Illinois, and first Mayor of 
Alton; Israel Billings, late of Hatfield; Caleb Rice, first Mayor 
of Springfield; Lincoln Clark of Chicago; Harvey Rice of Cleve- 
land, Poet of to-day; Charles Baker, not living; William How- 
land of Lynn, and William Whitney. 



THE FIRST CENTURY. 71 

Passing out of these professions, the remarkable men of 
Conway are so numerous as to be beyond reckoning. 

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES. 

I am able to give a list of conllagrations, which I hope will "be 
found to include nearly or quite all that have occurred. We are 
indebted again to Captain Childs for a part. Dwelling houses 
have been burned belonging to the following persons: Nathaniel 
Marble, Heman Hitchcock, Luther Boyden, Consider Bond, 
Samuel Ware, Zelotus Bates, Josiah Halloway, Sally Murphy, 
S. P. Sherman; and the boarding house of Tucker & Cook. 
Other buildings burned have been Tucker & Jones' store, two 
gristmills, both on the site of the present mill, Christopher Arms' 
shop, Levi Gunn's blacksmith shop, David Newhall's shop, 
Jerry Severance's blacksmith shop, Aaron Colton's blacksmith 
shop, three schoolhouses, the academy building, Edwin Burke's 
first woolen mill, the Conway tool shop, L. B. Wright's cotton 
mill, and the old fulling, oil, wool, and cotton mill near the post 
office. 

OLD FARMS. 

There are sixteen farms that are still occupied by the descend- 
ants of the first owners and occupants. I give the names in the 
family down to the present owner: the farm of Jonas Rice, Joel, 
Calvin, Joel; of Josiah Boyden, Josiah, Josiah (owned and tilled, 
but not lived on) ; of John Wing (owned but not lived on by him), 
Isaiah, Lucius B.; of Consider Arms, in Hoosac (not lived on 
by him), Henry, Consider; of Israel Rice, Joseph, Austin; of 
Theophilus Page, Levi, Elijah; of Timothy Thwing, where the 
venerable Amariah, his son, still lives; of Samuel Newhall, 
James, Austin, Joseph; of Jabez Newhall, Bethia, wife of Daniel 
Rice, Rodolphus; of Solomon Eield, Joel, Consider; of Isaac 
Amsden, Ira, Minerva, wife of W^alter Guilford; of Consider 
Arms, John, Elijah; of Richard Collins (but not kept uninter- 
ruptedly in the family), Erastus, Hiram; of Malachi Maynard, 
occupied by Zelotus Bates, husband of his late daughter, Lydia, 
and by his daughter Lucy; of Abel Dinsmore, John, Alvan; 
and of Lucius Allis, Solomon, John. Three or four more might 
be added b>- counting those who, though perhaps the first clearers 



72 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

and tillers of their farms, were not early either in occupying or 
owning them. 

Few even of the families of the children are where their 
fathers were. From these and from all the ancient places the 
fathers and the mothers themselves have long since passed. 
Of the second generation there remain with us a few, a number 
too quickly counted, and too soon to fail from counting. In the 
third rank are our elder men and women, looking toward the 
declivity of life. We of middle age are in the fourth. They of 
the fifth and sixth generations are coming swiftly on and will 
soon occupy alone, in their brief possession, these seats of the 
fathers. Our town has given to those who have lived here before 
us her fresh air, her clear springs and streams of water, and her 
hearty soil. She has set their homes on her pleasant hills, and 
has kept them in plenty and in peace. She has furnished for 
them the opportunities of knowledge; she has called them to 
the duties and comforts and hopes of the Christian religion; 
and she has taken them, when their course of nature failed, to 
their last earthly rest within her bosom. Upon those who will 
come after us she will bestow the same, and, we may hope, en- 
larging bounties of the present life; and she will set before them 
with increasing care, we may confidently think, the light of that 
same precious faith which may bring both them and us to the 
land that does not change the generations of its people, and 
from whose established homes the blessed inhabitants "go no 
more out forever." 



\ 



Chapter III. 

FIFTY YEARS MORE. 

By Rev. Ch.\rles Stanley Pe.\se. 

The Centennial Celebration of Conway took place on 
Wednesday, June 19, 1867. A large committee of leading citi- 




Centennial Elm, Makklng Site of P'irst Schoolhouse 



zens had been appointed at a town meeting to make the neces- 
sary arrangements. This committee had appointed a number 
of sub-committees to assist in carrying out the details of the 
programme. Mr. D. C. Rogers was the president of the day 
and Mr. Thomas S. Dickinson was the chief marshal. At 
sunrise the bells were rung and a salute was fired from a cannon 
placed on Prospect Hill. At seven a. m. a procession was 
formed, led by the Greenfield Drum Corps and consisting of 
a cavalcade headed by Mr. Amariah Thwing, who was ninety 
years of age, and Gen. Asa Howland, who was in his eightieth 
year. Following the horsemen was a long vehicle decorated 



74 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

with evergreens and drawn by two yokes of oxen. In this 
were a number of men and women dressed in antique costume 
W'ho were busily engaged in various industrial employments 
belonging to olden times. This was followed by a carriage with 
girls dressed in white, carrying banners which represented the 
states of the Union. Last in order came a team drawing an 
elm tree of considerable size. The procession, after marching 
through the principal streets of the village to Pumpkin Hollow, 
stopped at the site of the first schoolhouse erected in town. 
Here, after a few appropriate remarks by Rev. Charles B. Rice, the 
selectmen set out the elm tree since known as the "centennial elm." 

At nine A. m. another procession w^as formed for Arms' grove 
where the outdoor exercises were held. It w^as estimated that 
more than three thojisand persons were present. An ode written 
for the occasion by R. A. Coffin was sung by the audience, after 
which Rev. Charles B. Rice of Danvers, Mass.. a native of 
the town, delivered the historical address. Hon. Harvey Rice 
of Cleveland, Ohio, a grandson of Cyrus Rice, the first settler 
in Conway, then read an extended poem based upon the century's 
history. 

In the afternoon William Howland, Esq., of Lynn, Mass., 
another son of Conway, delivered an oration and a number 
of people made brief addresses. An interesting feature of the 
afternoon was the presentation to the audience of Mrs. Mary 
Crittenden, who lacked at the time only a few weeks of being 
one hundred years old. She lived a year and six months after 
her own centennial. Dinner was served in a large tent on the 
land recently acquired for a community athletic field, then 
owned by Capt. Charles Parsons. Seats were provided for 
one thousand persons. That number of dinner tickets was 
sold at one dollar each, but the demand for them could not 
be supplied. It was truly a home gathering. Welcome was 
expressed by banners hung in conspicuous places but was felt 
most of all in the glad greetings of old friends. Many living 
in town to-day who were then children remember vividly the 
enthusiastic crowds and the festive appearance of the village 
on that notable occasion. 

Many things contributed to make the day joyous. The war 
cloud was but recently dispelled and the surviving sons of 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 75 

Conway were still regarded as restored from the dead. More- 
over, the town was at this time enjoying a boom in its business 
conditions. Mr. Edward Delabarre had shortly before this 
acquired the woolen mill property and Burkeville had taken on 
new life and activity. Richard Tucker and Chelsea Cook were 
reorganizing the cotton manufacturing. The local correspond- 
ent for the Greenfield Gazette and Courier contributed a column 
article in September of the centennial year setting forth the 
prosperity of Conway in glowing terms. This correspondent, 
who signed himself "Senex," was Mr. Abner Forbes, a retired 
school-teacher from the vicinity of Boston highly respected for 
his character and intelligence. It is interesting to get his point 
of view regarding the general outlook in Conway fifty years ago. 
We quote in part from his letter to the Gazette and Courier: — 

"There is no town in F'ranklin County that offers more 
encouraging inducements for investment of limited capital than 
Conway. South River could naturally furnish a large amount 
of power, but the recent improvement made by Tucker & 
Company in the construction of their reservoir with its granite 
dam has increased that power very much. There are at present 
below the reservoir seven wheels. And there might be from 
Ashfield to the mouth of the river many more sites where a 
vast amount of machinery might be operated especially by 
additional reservoirs for which the track of the stream is admi- 
rably adapted. Unquestionably at no distant day a railroad 
will cross the town. Several routes have been surveyed and 
in none of them does any serious obstacle interpose. Already 
has business been revived and increased. Mr. Delabarre has 
recently purchased, improved, and put in operation the Burke- 
ville woolen factory. Tucker & Company and Tucker & Cook 
in their cotton mills give employment to a large number of 
hands. John Sprague has lately purchased the ancient Arms 
gristmill and is now in progress of enlarging and improving 
this valuable property. William Clapp purchased twenty-one 
years ago a small and almost dilapidated tannery. He does a 
business of from $50,000 to vS75,000 a year. The energies of 
the inhabitants generally are not sleeping, and there appears 
nothing wanting but outside capital to make Conway a flourish- 
ing place with proliably a population of ten to tweKe thousand. 



76 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Judging from what small means has already accomplished this 
is not an extravagant calculation. Where Burkeville now is, a 
few years since there was not a tenement or building. The 
street from the gristmill to the village bridge now lined with 
dwellings, shops, and storehouses was almost an impassable 
gorge. In the vicinity of the bank at the same period there 
were only two dwelling houses, a schoolhouse and a blacksmith's 
shop. In Pumpkin Hollow the old church, Newhall's tavern. 
Captain Williams' store, Bartlett's harness shop. Lawyer Billings' 
office and a few other buildings constituted Conway's middle 
of the town. A manifest change for the better has been pro- 
duced and this change has been effected by determined energy 
and struggling enterprise aided by but meager capital. It is 
confidently trusted that the bright vision of hope that beams 
in the prospects of Conway is-not a delusion." 

This letter to the Gazette and Courier without doubt expressed 
the general sentiment of the community at that time. The 
town was prosperous and confident of increased prosperity. 

RAILROAD SURVEYS. 

One ground for this expectation was the prospect that a 
railroad would be built through the village. Mr. Forbes refers 
to surveys already made. These surveys were taken seriously 
by the community. The town at its annual meeting on March 
9, 1868, voted to ask the Legislature for permission to subscribe 
for stock in a contemplated railroad from Williamsburg through 
Conway to Shelburne Falls. Different routes through Conway 
had been considered, but the one most in favor with the sur- 
veyors would have located a depot at Burkeville near the lower 
bridge. The railroad would have crossed South River near the 
shoe shop, then passing in front of Arms' grove and on the 
north side of Emerson Hollow would have kept along the side 
hill following the valley of South River for about a mile, then 
turning to the left and tunneling the ridge would have emerged 
in the valley beyond G. F. Hamilton's. From this point the 
survey led through the farm of I. G. Boyden toward the Ashfield 
line where a natural valley winds through Shirkshire to Shel- 
burne Falls. The town was to be disappointed, however. The 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 77 

Williamsburg extension did not go beyond that point and the 
line from Northampton to Shelburne Falls was built by way 
of South Deerfield and the valley of the Deerfield River. C\)n- 
way's station was located four and a half miles from the Niilage, 
which added very little to the convenience of traffic. 

The agitation for a steam railroad to Conway \ illage 
extended over a period of many \cars. Before the sur\eys 
were made for the proposed road from Northampton and 
Williamsburg, the Troy and Greenfield railroad had seriously 
considered running its road over the Hoosac Mountain instead 
of tunneling through it, and had sur\eyed a route through 
Conway, Ashfield, Hawley, and Savoy to North Adams. This 
was in 1849. As late as 1889 the town was aroused by still 
another plan to secure a railroad. This time surveys were 
made for a branch of the Connecticut River railroad from 
South Deerfield. An item appeared in the Gazette and Courier 
under date of August 31, 1889, beginning, "Attention, every- 
body! We are going to have a railroad through Conway." A 
special town meeting was called and a committee was appointed 
to confer with the officers of the railroad. The surve>s were 
not completed until 1891, when the project was dropped. Thus 
it would appear that each of the three railroads in this vicinity 
has in turn seriously considered locating a station at Conway 
village, but was deterred by various considerations, chiefly the 
rugged character of the country and the impossible grades. 

THE ELECTRIC STREET R.AIL\VAY. 
Fortunately for the town the advent of electric railroads 
in New England offered a new plan for communication with 
the outside world. And no sooner had hope of a steam road 
been given up than thoughts turned toward the building of an 
electric road. It was seen that this was wholly practicable 
and enthusiasm ran high. It was ascertained that the* cost 
would be about $25,000. Soon $20,000 was secured by private 
subscription and the town at a special meeting held June 30, 
1894, voted to subscribe for the last five thousand. This was 
appropriately celebrated on the night before the Fourth of July. 
There was a parade headed by a drum corps. Large paper 
lanterns were carried on which were emblazoned the words, 



78 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

"Conway Electric Road," "Money All Raised." A cannon was 
fired throughout the night and there was great rejoicing. Hopes 
deferred during forty years were about to be realized, at least 
in part. The subscribers met at once and organized, with 
the following board of directors: Carlos Batchelder, Ernory 
Brown, Arthur P. Delabarre, John B. Packard, Charles Parsons, 
Franklin Pease, and F. A. Delabarre. The directors in turn 
elected the following officers: President, Carlos Batchelder; 
clerk. Dr. J. B. Laidley; treasurer, W. G. Avery. 

In August a contract for building the road was made with 
Daniel O'Connell & Son of Holyoke, and by September the 
work was well under way, beginning at Conway Station. A 
power house was located at Harding brook, and in October 
the big boiler, drawn by eight horses, was moved up from South 
Deerfield. Remarkable progress was made in the construction 
of the road, so that by November first the track was laid as far 
as the lower cotton mill with most of the poles set and wire 
strung. The greatest delay was occasioned by the construction 
of two new iron bridges; but even these were practically finished 
before winter. In the early spring of 1895 the tracks were 
cleared of snow and work was resumed with such vigor that 
on March 29 a trial trip was made successfully from the upper 
cotton mill to Conway Station. Three days later the road was 
open for trafiic. 

The Conway electric road was the first to operate in this 
vicinity and the first to carry freight anywhere in the state. 
The Greenfield and Turners Falls electric line opened three 
months later and for several years there was hope of connecting 
the two. In harmony with this general plan efforts were soon 
put forth to extend the Conway line across the Deerfield River. 
This was accomplished in 1897 after heroic exertions both to 
raise the necessary funds and to overcome the opposition of 
the N. Y.. N. H. & H. railroad. This extension gave connection 
with the Fitchburg division of the Boston & Maine railroad 
as well as with the New Haven. 

In 1899 a dam was built across South Rixer near Conway 
Station to furnish power to run the electric road and also to 
furnish electric lights and power for the townspeople. This 
dam was made of logs and crushed stone faced with plank. 



FIFTY VF:ARS more. 79 

The work was done by lumbermen from Maine. About three 
thousand trees cut in the vicinity went into the construction. 
The dam was one hundred and thirty-two feet in length extend- 
ing from a natural ridge which reached nearly half across the 
valley. The reservoir thus secured not only furnished power 
but also made a beautiful lake nearly a mile in length bordering 
on Wildwood Park, an attractive resort developed with the 
building of the electric road. 

In 1908 the Conway electric road was sold to the Boston & 
Maine railroad, a special act of the Legislature of 1907, granting 
permission to do this, having been obtained with much difificulty. 
In taking over the electric road the Boston & Maine also acquired 
the power dam and other water privileges along Soutih River. 
The same year the old log dam was replaced by one made of 
cement. For several years the townspeople were dependent for 
their electric lights upon the electricity which the street railway 
could spare. But in 1916 the Greenfield Klectric Light and 
Power Company acquired the business of furnishing light and 
power in Conway and with unlimited resources are furnishing 
continuous light and any amount of power reciuired. 

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. 

The telegraph came into town in the fall of 1880. Mr. 
Charles C. Burdette, who had recently opened a drug store in 
the village, arranged with the telegraph company to run a line 
from Bardwell station to his store. The citizens of the town 
furnished the poles and Mr. Burdette received and sent the 
messages for one half of the receipts. The following summer 
the store of Lee & Dodge at Pumpkin Hollow was connected 
with the line. The telegraph was a great convenience to the 
town and was much appreciated until the coming of the tele- 
phone reduced the amount of service to a point where it ceased 
to be profitable, and for several years telegrams have been 
telephoned to and from Shelburne Falls. 

The New England Telephone Company began business in 
town in the spring of 1897 with six subscribers. This number 
gradually increased, yet little effort was made to accommodate 
the outlying farms. In 1901 a local company in the neighboring 
town of Heath came to Conway and established a farmers' 



80 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

line, to the great satisfaction of the people. The Heath Com- 
pany began with forty subscribers and eventually secured all 
of the local business. There were, January 1, 1917, one hundred 
and twenty-five subscribers in Conway, representing every 
corner and neighborhood of the town. 

IMPROVED MAIL SERVICE. 

As a means of communication with the outside world the 
town is greatly indebted to improvement in the mail service 
during recent years. The rural free delivery was established 
July 1, 1901, with Charles Page as carrier. The mail is now 
carried into every neighborhood and within a reasonable distance 
of every farmhouse. The parcel post arrangement, which went 
into effect January 1, 1913, has been extensively utilized by 
Conway people in purchasing supplies through mail orders. 

AUTOMOBILES. 

Automobiles began to appear in town during the summer 
of 1902. With their rapid increase throughout the state came 
a demand for better roads and Conway has profited by this 
agitation. A state road already nearly completed runs through 
the town from South Deerfield to Ashfield and thence to the 
Berkshire Valley. For the past two summers an auto-bus line 
has been maintained by the Patterson Auto Garage between 
Conway village and South Deerfield railroad stations. About 
sixty automobiles are now owned by the townspeople. 

THE NATIONAL CENTENNIAL. 

The Fourth of July, 1876, was appropriately celebrated by 
the town of Conway. There was a salute with cannon at 
sunrise. A parade of antiques and horribles was followed at 
10 A. M. by a procession to Arms' grove. Mr. John Sprague 
was chief marshal. Gordon H. Johnson, Charles Parsons, and 
Chelsea Cook were his assistants. The order of march was as 
follows: President of the day, Carlos Batchelder; invited guests; 
Conway Band; fire company; Sunday schools; citizens. The 
programme at the grove consisted of opening prayer by Rev. 
David Pease, a former pastor in town, now venerable with age; 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 81 

singing by a quartette; reading of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence by Miss Ada Patrick; music by the band; address 
by Rev. Charles B. Rice of Danvers, Mass.; singing by the 
quartette; collation; poem by Mr. Olin Clark; after-dinner 
speaking with Charles Parsons, Jr., as toastmaster. The exer- 
cises closed with the singing of America. 

PATRIOTIC AND SOCIAL ORCiANIZATIOXS. 

The Francis A. Clary Post, No. 164, G. A. R., was organized 
in 1883 with the following charter members: Samuel Bigelow, 
Elias Bradford, George Braman, C. C. Burdette, John Connelly, 
Horace Dill, F. M. Freeman, Joseph Greenyer, George Hassell, 
Gordon H. Johnson, Franklin Lee, Theodore Lombard, Henry 
Nye, W. D. Sanderson, Alexander Sinclair, Henry A. Stearns, 
C. G. Townsend, J. W. Turner, William Watson. The first 
commander of the Post was Gordon H. Johnson. The present 
commander is Alexander Sinclair. 

The Woman's Relief Corps of the Francis A. Clary Post was 
organized January 18, 1888, with Mrs. Horace Dill as president. 
The Corps has been of invaluable assistance to the Post, espe- 
cially as the number of veterans decreased. The present mem- 
bership is twenty-five. The president is Mrs. Almeda Mann. 

The Chauncey G. Townsend Camp, No. 40, Sons of Veterans 
was organized in 1892 with George C. Lee, captain. The 
membership soon reached twenty-five, and the total enrollment 
has been about fifty. On November 6, 1892, Mrs. Townsend 
presented to the Camp a large and beautiful silk flag in memory 
of her husband for whom the Camp was named. The Camp 
flourished for a number of years until the members became so 
scattered that meetings ceased to be held. The last records 
were dated June 3, 1904. 

The Morning Sun Lodge of Masons was organized in Ashfield 
in 1826. The first master was Rev. Orra Martin, pastor of 
the Baptist church of South Ashfield. The senior warden was 
Horace B. Childs of Conway. The Lodge was removed to 
Conway in 1830. It prospered for a few years but finally 
surrendered its charter about 1840. The charter was restored 
in 1870 when the present Lodge was formed, retaining the name 
of the earlier organization. Charles Parsons, Jr., was the first 



82 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

master of the reorganized Lodge. Meetings were held for a 
number of years in rooms built and furnished for its special 
use at the Conway hotel. Masonic Hall was completed in 1896 
and was opened with a public reception in July of that year. 
The building furnished quarters for the post office and the 
office of the Electric Street Railway, in addition to the con- 
veniently arranged assembly and banquet rooms of the 
Lodge. 

The Wequanock Tribe of Red Men was organized in Conway, 
December 1, 1899. A wigwam was specially constructed for 
them in the upper story of the Hawkes block and, except for a 
few years in the old Masonic rooms at the hotel, this has been 
their place of assembly. George Rhood is the present sachem 
of the tribe. 

A Lodge of Good Templars was formed in 1894 and flourished 
for a time. 

For many years a Young Men's Christian Association held 
regular meetings. It was officered by young men who afterward 
became the leading town officials. Entertainment courses were 
arranged under its auspices and lectures by men of wide reputa- 
tion were given for the benefit of the public. 

In 1891 there was a Farmers' League with Micajah Vincent 
as president. Its meetings were devoted to the discussion of 
fruit growing. 

Later the Grange flourished for a time, holding its meetings 
in a room of the town hall still known as "Grange hall." 

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was an influential 
organization for a number of years. In 1905 it presented to 
the public a granite drinking fountain conveniently located at 
Masonic Square. 

A Fire Company was formed in Conway in 1852. The 
large hand engine procured at that time is still in use. The 
chief dependence, however, in recent years has been placed in 
two chemical engines stored, one at the bank building and the 
other in Burkeville. The fire company has been very important 
to the town, always responding promptly to alarms at any hour 
of the day or night. Thomas Dickinson, John Sprague, Charles 
Parsons, Jr., and Clarence A. Smith each served for a number 
of years as fire chief and rendered most efficient and heroic 



FIP^TY YEARS MORE. 83 

service. The officers in 1916 were: Chief, Daniel McKenzie; 
first assistant, Edgar Jones; second assistant, Edward Parsons. 

The Conway Cornet Band was organized in 1876 with 
John R. Holcomb, leader. It passed through man\' changes in 
its personnel but continued its existence and services to the 
community for about fifteen years. 

In 1907 another organization was formed taking the name 
of the Conway Brass Band. It made its first public appearance 
on the Fourth of July of that year. Music has since been 
furnished for all public occasions, and open-air concerts have 
been given at frequent intervals during the summer, to the 
great enjoyment of the townspeople. Mr. Fred Holcomb has 
been its only leader. 

The Conway Club, organized for social purposes, was popular 
with the young men for several years. It had rooms, fitted up 
at considerable expense, in the Hawkes block. The rooms were 
required for a tenement in 1916 and the club disbanded. 

The Conway Sportsmen's Club was formed in 1913 with the 
assistance of Game Warden Ruberg of Greenfield. Its influence 
is exerted to protect game from lawless destruction. It is also 
actively engaged in stocking the streams. Large-mouthed bass, 
pike perch, and hornpout from the state hatcheries have been 
placed in Lake Wequanock. Trout fry and fingerlings have 
been put into the various brooks of this locality. Pheasants 
have been received from the State Game Commission and 
turned loose in the woods. The annual supper of the club is 
a very popular event when members of the State Commission 
and other speakers of reputation have addressed the club and 
its guests. The officers in 1916 were: President, Alexander 
Sinclair; secretary and treasurer, A. A. Belair; directors, 
Edward Affhauser, Allen R. Cook, Edward Graves, Alexander 
Sinclair, A. A. Belair. 

DISASTERS. 

The great freshet of 1869 is still vividh- remembered 1)> the 
older residents of the town. It began to rain on Saturday, 
October 4, and poured in torrents for forty-eight hours. The 
earth wings of the granite dam at the Tucker & Cook reservoir 
gave way, and with the water in the reservoir added to the 
stream, already a raging Hood, a clean sweep was made of 



84 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

practically everything in its path. The covered bridge at 
Burkeville was the only bridge remaining on South River from 
Ash field line to the Deerfield. Fourteen bridges were washed 
away in various parts of the town. All of the mills were more or 
less seriously damaged. The tannery of William Clapp, which 
had been an important industry of the town, was completely 
wrecked. The business did not recover from the loss. Several 
dwelling houses were moved from their foundations and Main 
Street between the present Field Library and the bridge was 
the center of a sizable lake. It was estimated that the total 
damage to the town in public and private property, including 
dams, roads, and bridges, was about $50,000. The same flood 
conditions prevailed all over Franklin County and the tracks 
of the Troy and Greenfield railroad, now extended as far as 
the almost completed tunnel, were wrecked along the whole 
length of the Deerfield River. 

Another flood equally dangerous to life, though less destruc- 
tive to property, occurred in 1878. The cause of this was a 
heavy fall of snow followed by rain and a south wind on the 
afternoon and evening of Tuesday, December 10. During the 
night all of this mantle of snow, holding the rain like a sponge 
on the frozen ground, melted and literally slid, as from the roof 
of a house, into the river valleys. The Ashfield and Conway 
reservoirs gave way at about the same time, making an interval 
of about an hour between the two floods as they reached Conway 
village. This was fortunate for Conway, for had the flood from 
Ashfield been added to the volume of water in the Conway 
reservoir the consequences to Conway village must have been 
serious indeed. As it proved, the property loss, though heavy, 
was much less than in 1869. There were many narrow escapes 
but no loss of life during either disaster. 

The town has been visited with serious fires, some of them 
involving heavy financial loss, others destroying buildings prized 
for their associations. In the spring of 1898 the old farmhouse 
built in 1820, by Gen. Asa Rowland, burned to the ground 
together with barn and sheds. The fire left practically nothing 
but the stone foundations. These buildings had been the pride 
of the town as the residence for many years of one of her most 
prominent and widely known citizens. Another house whose 



lU'rV VKARS MORE. 85 

value consisted chiefly in its historical associations was consumed 
by fire on the night of February 20, 1916. This house, owned 
by Dennis Childs, and occupied by Mr. Forbes Batchelder, was 
built about the time of the incorporation of the town by Deacon 
Joel Baker. It was the first frame house built in town. After 
the fire the most prominent object, and about all that was 
left, was the old brick oven built by Mrs. Joel Baker herself, 
one hundred and fifty years ago. 

A number of business blocks have been destroyed by fire. 
The bank building, with town office and rooms occupied by 
the public library, was totally destroyed on the night of 
January 11, 1878. This fire was an exceedingly dangerous one, 
threatening for a time to sweep the entire street. The following 
year the upper cotton mill of the Tucker & Cook Company 
was burned. These important buildings were at once rebuilt. 
Other buildings in and about the village have burned and been 
replaced. Yet in many instances fire has been the means of 
closing out a business or of obliterating a home. The destruc- 
tion of the Lawrence block and Foote house on December 24, 
1898, left a vacant place in the center of the village. The 
Burkeville Woolen Mill, once so important to the town, was 
destroyed by fire on the sixth of March, 1904. A smaller 
building has since been erected to utilize the water power in 
the making of taps and dies, but the era of woolen manufacturing 
in Conway seems to have closed with the burning of the old 
woolen mill. Of similar importance to the agricultural interests 
of the town was the loss by fire, on August 1, 1905, of the buildings 
of the Conway Co-operative Creamery. The Congregational 
meeting house burned in 1885 but was promptly replaced by 
a modern and more beautifully furnished edifice. 

DIPHTHERIA. 
Conway was afflicted with an epidemic of diphtheria in 1874. 
Beginning with October 21 there were, within a year, thirty-six 
deaths from diphtheria. In several homes there were two and 
even three deaths in close connection. Rev. James De Forest, 
pastor of the Methodist church, lost two children and was 
himself buried with them. The town was in deepest gloom for 
several months. 



86 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

CEMETERIES. 

The first burial place in town was a part of what is now 
known as Howland Cemetery. This cemetery dates with the 
town's organization. In 1772 land was purchased in the rear 
of the meeting house for another burial place. This old church- 
yard at Pumpkin Hollow has long been unused. It contains, 
however, the remains of people who were prominent citizens in 
their day, including two olificers of the Revolution, Capt. Lucius 
Allis and Capt. Elisha Amsden. Other old cemeteries, used 
as the burial place of the early settlers and the founders of 
the town, are the ones at Cricket Hill, South Part, Poland, 
and North Shirkshire. The Pine Grove Cemetery was opened 
for use in 1845. This made seven town cemeteries besides a 
number of family graveyards in various parts of the town. 

Dr. Rice gives the number of deaths from the settlement 
of the town to the time of the centennial as 2,183. The number 
since the centennial up to January first, 1917, is 1,321, making 
the total number of deaths in Conway during the entire history 
of the town 3,504. 

In 1901 the owners of burial lots in the Howland and Pine 
Grove cemeteries formed themselves into "The Conway Ceme- 
tery Association," and became incorporated under the laws of 
the state by a special act of the Legislature. The incorporators 
named in the act were Henry W. Billings, Charles D. Ives, 
Gordon H. Johnson, Carlos Batchelder, W. E. Hawkes, A. R. 
Stearns. The first ofihcers of the Association were : A. P. Dela- 
barre, president; H. W. Billings, clerk; Carlos Batchelder, 
treasurer. As a result of this organization there has been a 
great improvement in the appearance of both cemeteries. Much 
needed grading has been done and ornamental shrubs have been 
tastefully placed. The turf is neatly kept and owners of lots 
are encouraged to provide for their perpetual care. The present 
Board of Trustees are; C. D. Ives, president; E. T. Cook, secre- 
tary; A. C. Guilford, treasurer; Emory Brown, A. P. Delabarre, 
C. F. Elmer, H. B. Hassell. 

TOWN OFFICIALS. 

The previous chapter gives a list of representatives to the 
General Court, also a list of town clerks and treasurers for the 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 87 

first century. We will complete those lists for fifty years more. 
Each town in the state sent its own representative in 1856. 
After that date the towns were grouped together into Repre- 
sentative Districts. Conway taking turns with other towns has 
sent the following men to. the Legislature since 1867: Carlos 
Batchelder, 1870; Dr. David Vining, 1881; Henry W. Hopkins, 
1886; John B. Packard, 1889, 1896, 1897; Horace E. Miller, 
1892; Charles F. Elmer, 1907, 1908. 

It is easy to complete the list of town clerks and treasurers, 
as H. W. Billings continued in both offices until his death in 
1915. He was then succeeded by Charles Parsons as clerk, and 
by Alvin C. Boice as treasurer. 

No list of selectmen was given in the previous chapter. We 
therefore make this list complete from the first town meeting: — 

1767. Thos. French, Consider Arms, Samuel Wells. 

1768. Thos. French, Joel Baker. 

1769. Joel Baker, Jos. Catlin, EHas Dickinson, Nathaniel Field, 

Simeon ("iraves. 

1770. Thos. F"rench, Joel Dickinson, C^tus Rice. 

1771. Thos. French, Samuel Wells, Jonathan Whitney, Joel Baker, 

Israel Rice. 
1772-73. Jonas Rice, David Parker, Daniel Newhall. 

1774. Consider Arms, Israel Gates, Robert Oliver. 

1775. Elisha Amsden, Samuel WellSj,,Noah Balding. 

1776. Isaac Amsden, Jonas Rice,'<Sam'l Crittenden, Klisha Clark 

Alex. Oliver. 

1777. Cyrus Rice, Isaac Amsden, Israel Rice, Elisha Clark. 

1778. Samuel Wells, Jonathan Whitney, Elisha Clark. 

1779. Abel Dinsmore, Jonathan Whitney, Israel Rice. 

1780. Elisha Amsden, Josiah Boyden, Nathaniel Coddard. 

1781. Alexander Oliver, Prince Tobey, Lucius Allis. 

1 1782. Prince Tobey, .\lexander Oliver, Malachi Maynard. 

.1 1783. Israel Gates, Abel Dinsmore, Malachi Maynard. 

1784. Caleb Allen, Abel Dinsmore, Jesse Severance. 

1785. Prince Tobey, Caleb Allen, George Stearns, Elisha Clark 

Josiah Boyden. 

1786. Caleb Allen, Oliver Root, Timothy Thwing. 

1787. Lieut. Clary, William Wetmore, ()liver Root. 
1788-89. Ethan Billings, Caleb Allen, Oliver Root. 

1790. William Gates, Caleb Allen, Oliver Root. 

1791. John Banister, Elisha Clark, Oliver Root. 
1792-95. John Banister, Caleb Allen, Oliver Root. 
1796. Abel Dinsmore, Jabez Newhall, Oliver Root. 

11797. Malachi Mavnard, Jabez Newhall, Oliver Root. 

1798. Malachi Maynard, Reuben BardwcU, Oliver Root. 

1799. Malachi Maynard, Joseph Rice (2d), Oliver Root. 

1800. Caleb Allen, Joel Parsons, Joel Adams. 

1801. Caleb Allen, Joel Parsons, Oliver Root. 

1802. Prince Tobey, Isaiah Wing, Oliver Root. 
1803-04. Joel Parsons, Jabez Newhall, Joseph Rice (2d). 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

1805. Joel Parsons, Reuben Bardwell, Joseph Rice (2d). 

1806. John Arms, Samuel Wrisley, Joseph Rice (2dj. 
1807-08. John Arms, David Childs, Joseph Rice (2d). 
1809-10. Isaac Baker, David Childs, Joseph Rice (2d). 

1811. Isaac Baker, David Childs, Nathaniel Baker. 

1812. Isaac Baker, Joel Parsons, Isaiah Wing. 
1813-14. Isaac Baker, Joel Parsons, Elijah Nash. 

1815. Isaac Baker, Joel Parsons, Darius Stearns. 

1816. Charles E. Billings, Joel Parsons, Darius Stearns. 

1817. Samuel Warren, Joel Parsons, Darius Stearns. 

1818. Elijah Nash, Charles E. Billings, D. Stearns. 

1819. Elijah Nash, Joseph Rice, Isaac Baker. 

1820. Charles E. Billings, William Stow, Noah Dickinson. 

1821. C. E. Billings, Joseph Rice, Noah Dickinson. 

1822. C. E. Billings, Darius Stearns, Noah Dickinson. 

1823. C. E. Billings, Darius Stearns, John Arms. 

1824. C. E. Billings, Elisha Clark, John Arms. 

1825. C. E. Billings, Joseph Rice, John Arms. 

1826. Joseph Avery, Levi Page, Ira Amsden. 

1827. Joseph Avery, C. E. Billings, Darius Stearns. 

1828. Austin Rice, C. E. Billings, Luther Bartlett. 

1829. Austin Rice, John Arms, Joseph Avery. 

1830. Charles E. Billings, Darius Stearns, Luther Bartlett. 
1832-34. Charles E. Billings, William Stow, James Phillips. 

1835. C. E. Billings, Joseph Avery, Charles Parsons. 

1836. George Stearns, Joseph Avery, Charles Parsons. 

1837. C. E. Billings, Eber Lee, James PhilUps. 

1838. Luther Bartlett, Eber Lee, James Phillips. 

1839. Joseph Avery, Austin Rice, George Stearns. 

1840. Kimball Batchelder, A. Rice, Chester Bement. 

1841. Luther Bartlett, John Cotton, C. Ben.ent. 

1842. Chester Bement, Josiah Dwight, Joseph Avery. 

1843. James Phillips, Austin Rice, John AUis. 

1844. James Phillips, Austin Rice, Josiah Dwight. 

1845. Emery Sherman, A. Rice, Daniel Eldridge. 

1846. Emery Sherman, John Clary, D. Eldridge. 

1847. Emery Sherman, John Clary, Kimball Batchelder. 

1848. William A. Rowland, E. D. Hamilton, Alvin Dinsmore. 

1849. Dennis Lee, E. D. Hamilton, Edwin Cooley. 

1850. William C. Campbell, Edwin Cooley, George Stearns. 

1851. William C. Campbell, Asa Howland, George Stearns. 

1852. Chester Bement, Daniel Eldredge, M. Dickinson. 

1853. John Bradford, L. L. Boyden, M. Dickinson. 

1854. Isaac Farley, Joel G. Rice, M. Dickinson. 

1855. Emery Sherman, Joel G. Rice, Dennis Lee. 

1856. William C. Campbell, Consider Arms, Franklin Pease. 

1857. W. C. Campbell, Levi Page, Joel G. Rice. 

1858. Asa Howland, Levi Page. 

1859. Asa Howland, William A. Howland, F. Arms. 

1860. Edwin Cooley, Paul Jenkins, Dennis Lee. 

1861. Edwin Cooley, W. C. Campbell, Carlos Batchelder. 

1862. Edwin Cooley, Newton Pease, C. Batchelder. 
1863-65. William C. Campbell, Consider Arms, C. Batchelder. 

1866. W. C. Campbell, William Stearns, C. Batchelder. 

1867. W. C. Campbell, L. F. Eldredge, C. Batchelder. 

1868. Charles B. Merritt, L. F. Eldredge, C. Batchelder. 

1869. W. C. Campbell, Thomas L. AUis, C. Batchelder. 

1870. Levi Page, Franklin Pease, L. F. Eldredge. 
1871-72. Thomas L. Allis, Chelsea Cook, L. F. Eldredge. 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 89 

187v?. T. L. AUis, Edwin Cooler, Carlos Batchelder. 

1874. T. L. Allis, iMlwin Cooley, T. S. Dickinson. 

1875. John B. Packard, Edwin Coolev, T. S. Dickinson. 

1876. J. B. Packard, Edwin Cooley, Alfred Bartlelt. 
1877-78. T. S. Dickinson, Edwin Coolev, L. F. Eldredge. 

1879. J. B. Packard, Edwin Coolev,'(;. P. Hassell. 

1880. John B. Packard, Charles Parsons, Jr., Elbridge G. Thwing. 

1881. Charles Parsons, Jr., Franklin Pease, Henry W. Hopkins. 

1882. Charles Parsons, Jr., F"ranklin Pease, Henry W. Hopkins. 

1883. Charles Parsons, Jr., Henry W. Hopkins, Alfred Bartlett. 

1884. Charles Parsons, Jr., Henry A. Stearns, Joel B. Page. 

1885. Franklin Pease, Henry A. Stearns, Thomas Dickinson. 

1886. Franklin Pease, Joel B. Page, Elihu B. Ames. 

1887. Franklin Pease, Charles Parsons, Jr., Elihii B. Ames. 

1888. Franklin Pease, David Xewhall, Elihu B. Ames. 

1889. Franklin Pease, B. S. Graves, J. C. Newhall. 

1890. Franklin Pease, David Newhall, Charles H. Willis. 

1891. David Xewhall, Franklin Pease, Charles Parsons, Jr. 

1892. Charles F. Allis, David Xewhall, Charles L. Mason. 

1893. Charles F. Allis, Da^•id Xewhall, Charles L. Mason. 

1894. David Xewhall, Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer. 

1895. David Xewhall, Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer. 

1896. David Xewhall, Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer. 

1897. David Xewhall, Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer. 

1898. David Xewhall, Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer. 

1899. Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer, David Xewhall. 

1900. Charles F. Allis, Charles F. Elmer, David Xewhall. 

1901. Charles F. Elmer, John W. Fuller, David Xewhall. 

1902. Charles F. Allis, David Xewhall, Charles F. Elmer. 

1903. David Xewhall, \V. T. Graves, C. L. Parsons. 

1904. C. L. Parsons, \V. T. Graves, C. F. Allis. 

1905. C. L. Parsons, \V. T. Graves, C. F. Allis. 

1906. C. L. Parsons, W. T. Graves, C. F. Allis. 

1907. C. L. Parsons, C. F. Allis, Alvin C. Boice. 

1908. C. L. Parsons, E. B. (iraves, (George Bolton. 

1909. C. F. Elmer, C. F. Allis, J. F. Parker. 

1910. C. F. Elmer, J. F. Parker, C. L. Boyden. 

1911. C. F. Elmer, J. F. Parker, C. L. Boyden. 

1912. C. F. Elmer, J. F. Parker, C. L. Boyden. 

1913. C. F. Elmer, C. L. Boyden, Dwight Weston. 

1914. A. J. Patterson, C. L. Boyden, Dwight W'eston. 

1915. A. J. Patterson, C. L. Boyden, Dwight Weston. 

1916. A. J. Patterson, C. L. Boyden, Dwight Weston. 

1917. A. J. Patterson, C. L. Boyden, Dwight Weston. 



PHYSICIAXS. 

Conway has been favored with the services of skillful and 
devoted physicians. The previous chapter gives a list of the 
resident physicians who served the community during the first 
century. The list ends with Doctors E. D. Hamilton and D. T, 
Vining, who in 1867 were in the prime of life, each having a 
large practice in this and in neighboring towns. Dr. Hamilton 
continued in practice until his death in 1883 when he was 



90 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

succeeded by Dr. J. B. Laidley. Dr. Laidley practiced from 1883 
until his death in 1910 and was succeeded by Dr. C. E. Perry. 

Dr. Vining was a homoeopathic physician and at his death 
in 1888 he was sucbeeded by Dr. Charles W. Clough of the 
same school of medicine. Dr. Clough practiced until his death 
in 1910 and was followed by Dr. C. A. Washburne. Doctors 
Perry and Washburne both removed from town within two 
years and Dr. C. H. Dobson has since that time been the resident 
physician. 

POPULATION. 

The population of Conway was greatest during the decade 
of 1790 to 1800. Then for half a century it steadily decreased. 
The old farms where large families had been reared could not 
be divided among the numerous sons as they came to manhood, 
and so the second and third generations literally swarmed like 
overcrowded hives. Some of the young people found employ- 
ment in the larger towns. Others migrated to the new lands of 
the Middle West. Manufacturing began to increase the popula- 
tion in Conway about the middle of the last century as seen by 
the census of 1850 and 1860. We give the population by 
decades beginning with the first census in 1790: — 

1790, 2,092; 1800, 2,013; 1810, 1,784; 1820, 1,705; 1830, 
1,563; 1840, 1,409; 1850, 1,831; 1860, 1,689; 1870, 1,460; 
1880,1,760; 1890,1,451; 1900.1,458; 1910,1,230; 1915,1,219. 

The population during the last fifty years has kept about 
the same except for the ups and downs of manufacturing. The 
number of people living on the farms has not materially changed 
in many years. 

FARMS AND FARM LIFE. 

Dr. Rice tells us that fifty years ago there were sixteen 
farms still occupied by the descendants of the first owners and 
occupants. Only five of those farms which he described now 
remain in the possession of the descendants of the first settlers. 
Boyden Brothers own in part the original farm of their ancestor, 
Josiah Boyden. George Collins lives upon the farm of his 
great-grandfather, Richard Collins, who was the first settler in 
the neighborhood of Poland. The village farm of Capt. Consider 
Arms is now the residence of his great-grandson, Charles D. 
Ives. The farm of Samuel Newhall has been cultivated 



FIFTY VP:ARS more. 



91 



successively by his descendants, James, Austin, and Joseph, 
who still lives upon it. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Seffens occupy 
the farm of Mrs. Seffens' ancestor, Timothy Tinving. 




1)k. E. D. Hamilton. 



Some of the less i)r(Klucli\e farms have been abandoned or 
rather devoted to pasture and woodland. A striking example 
of this is seen in the once populous neighborhood of Cricket 
Hill. There have been no less than thirty farmhouses in that 
section of the town between the present Northampton road 
and the Poland district. It is said that at one time there were 
ninety pupils enrolled at the school in this district. Now there 
are but four houses in the entire neighborhood. A number of 



92 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the old farms in various parts of the town have recently been 
acquired by the "New Americans" who, with economy, great 
industry, and good farm management, are paying for the farms 
and bringing them again into a fair state of productiveness. 

Some of the more sightly locations have been sold for summer 
residences. In 1899 the Franklin Arms place was purchased 
by James F. Tichenor of New York. Mr. Tichenor remodeled 
the old farmhouse and made many improvements in the sur- 
roundings, converting the place into a beautiful country estate. 
Unfortunately, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Tichenor lived long to enjoy 
their home and for several years the farm has been occupied 
for only brief periods by changing owners. Three years after 
Mr. Tichenor located on "Arms Hill," his friend W. F. Harris 
bought the Clary farm, also commanding an extensive view. 
Mr. Harris remodeled the buildings and enjoyed his summer 
home for several years. Then the buildings burned and for 
personal reasons the family relocated elsewhere. 

Conway has many attractive locations for summer residences. 
Cricket Hill, Hoosac, Broomshire, and many sites about the 
village should be occupied by bungalows or by more imposing 
residences. A summer population of the right sort would be a wel- 
come addition to the social and religious life of the community. 

Conway has some very attractive permanent residences, as 
"Braeside," the beautiful estate of W. L. Matthews. 

Farm life has changed very much in fifty years. Improved 
farm machinery has lightened much of the heavy work. There 
has been a tendency in recent years toward "scientific" farming, 
once so much despised. Analysis of the soil and the use of 
commercial fertilizers selected to meet the particular needs of 
soil and crop is a common practice among the farmers. Farm 
homes are now more comfortable and much more conveniently 
arranged and furnished than fifty years ago. The telephone 
and rural mail delivery have to a large extent removed the old 
feeling of isolation, and the increasing use of automobiles means 
closer touch with the markets of the city. 

THE OUTLOOK. 
Fifty years ago the people were looking to manufacturing 
as the hope for the future development and prosperity of the 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 93 

town. To-day there is little prospect that manufacturing will 
ever again become a very important industry in Conway. 
The future of the town depends, as it really always has depended, 
upon the development of her agricultural resources. These have 
invariably repaid the industrious and intelligent farmer and 
never more so than at present. 

BRIEF HKXIR.APHICAL SKETCHES. 

During the last half century Conway has met with the loss 
of many worthy citizens, whose lives gave character to the 
community life. To a few only, native of the town with two 
exceptions; will space permit of even a brief tribute. 

Gen. Asa Rowland, a descendant of sturdy Puritan ances- 
try, was born October 25, 1787. Throughout a long life he 
was remarkably faithful in the discharge of religious and civic 
duties. In early life he entered with enthusiasm into the 
work of the state militia and by various promotions rose to 
the rank of major. In that capacity he responded to the call 
of the governor during the war of 1812 and served in the defense 
of Boston. Subsequently he rose to the rank of brigadier 
general and by this title was generally known through life. 
In 1837 he built what is now known as th& "Lower Cotton Mill" 
where he engaged for a number of years in the manufacture of 
cotton cloth. He was an outspoken and uncompromising ad\'0- 
cate of temperance, making some enemies thereby. On Janu- 
ary 12, 1854, while in Greenfield serving as a special magistrate 
in the trial of cases for the violation of liquor laws he was 
assaulted by three men in disguise, who entered his room at 
the hotel in the night. He fortunately was able to give an 
alarm and thus saved himself from serious injury. The General's 
last public appearance was at the centennial celebration of the 
town in 1867 when he, with another aged citizen, led a cavalcade 
in the morning procession. He wore the same chapeau, plume, 
and belt that he wore while commanding a division of the state 
militia in 1825. It is said that he rode erect and trim with a 
confident easy horsemanship although in his eightieth year. He 
died June 29, 1870. 

Gen. James S. Whitney was born in South Dccrfield, May 19, 
1811. As a young man he worked in his father's store, of 



94 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

which he became the proprietor at the age of twenty-one. He 
early took a great interest in miUtary matters and gained such 
distinction in the local military organization that at the age 
of twenty-five he was honored with a commission as brigadier 
general. He removed to Conway about the first of January, 
1838, where he made his home for sixteen years. He lived on 
Baptist Hill in the house now occupied by Edwin T. Cook. 
Here five of his children were born, including his two distin- 
guished sons, Henry M. Whitney, builder of the West End 
Railway System of Boston, and William C. Whitney, corporation 
lawyer in New York and Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet 
of President Cleveland. General Whitney opened a general 
store in partnership with his brother-in-law, Anson Shepard, 
under the firm name of Shepard & Whitney. This firm was 
followed by that of W'hitney & Wells, Charles Wells being 
the junior partner. About 1846 General W'hitney and Mr. Wells 
started the manufacture of seamless bags and made it an impor- 
tant industry for a number of years. In 1854 General Whitney 
with others secured a charter for a national bank in Conway, 
of which institution he was a director while he remained in town. 
The same year he took a prominent part in organizing the 
Conway Mutual Fire Insurance Company of which he was one 
of the incorporators and the first president. 

Meanwhile he was much in public life. He served Conway 
as town clerk from 1843 to 1852. In 1851 he was elected 
sheriff of Franklin County and served in that capacity about 
two years. He represented Conway in the State Legislature 
of 1851 and again in that of 1854. He was sent as a delegate 
of the town to the Constitutional Convention of 1853. In 1854 
he was appointed to the very responsible position of superin- 
tendent of the United States Armory in Springfield, Mass. This 
caused his removal from Conway. In 1860 he was appointed 
collector of the port of Boston and removed to Brookline, where 
he made his home until his death, October 24, 1878. His last 
years were devoted to large business enterprises in which he 
engaged. General Whitney and his family always cherished 
pleasant memories of Conway. From time to time they have 
sent substantial tokens of their regard in gifts for educational 
and religious objects; and the people of Conway still cherish 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 95 

with pride and affection the memory of the Whitney family — 
the honored father and his distinguished sons. 

Col. Austin Rice was born in Conwa\-, Jul\- 16, 1794. 
His entire life was spent upon the farm now owned by 




Col. Austin Rice. 

William T. (xraves. He attended llic local district school and 
later studied at an academy in Westfield, Mass. He then for 
a number of years taught the winter term of school in this and 
in neighboring towns. He was fond of reading and by this 
means became a well-informed man. His interest in educational 
matters is seen in the fact that he was made a trustee of Mount 



96 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Holyoke Seminary in 1858 and was kept in this position until 
his death twenty-two years later. In early manhood he enrolled 
in the militia as was the custom in those days. He became 
the colonel of a cavalry regiment and from that time throughout 
his life was known, and almost invariably addressed, as "Colonel 
Rice." He was interested in all public matters and held various 
positions of trust in the town and county. He was deeply 
interested in the various activities of the Congregational church, 
of which he was a member. His son estimates that he gave 
during the period of his business life nearly five thousand dollars 
for missionary and benevolent objects, not counting his regular 
contributions to parish expenses. Colonel Rice may be regarded 
as a type of that strong and forceful Puritan stock which has 
given character to so many New England towns. His death 
occurred on July 15, 1880. 

In this connection we wish to pay tribute to the honored 
son of Colonel Rice, Rev. Charles Baker Rice, D.D., whose 
death occurred on July 31, 1913. Dr. Rice was born on the 
ancestral farm in Broomshire, June 29, 1829. He was never 
a resident of Conway after his boyhood days, but he was identi- 
fied with the town in so many ways and served the town on so 
many occasions as to be in spirit if not in reality a permanent 
citizen of the place. He was the historian of the centennial 
celebration in 1867 and his painstaking researches at that time 
made him ever after an authority on the history of this locality. 
He gave the principal address at the local celebration of the 
national centennial in 1876. When the Congregational church 
was rebuilt in 1885 he was called to Conway to preach the 
sermon of dedication. He was invited repeatedly to give the 
principal address at high school dinners, and when the Field 
Memorial Library was dedicated in 1901, Dr. Rice was the one 
selected to make the address of dedication. After the death 
of Marshall Field he prepared, by request of the Field family, 
a brief Memorial Volume containing an account of the presenta- 
tion of the library. This memorial is included in this book as 
Chapter Eight. 

Dr. Rice was pastor of the Congregational church in Danvers, 
Mass., for thirty-one years. He then became secretary of the 
Congregational Board of Pastoral Supph", a position he held 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 97 

during the remainder of his Hfe. Like his father he was natu- 
rally dignified in manner and in his later years was quite vener- 
able in appearance. The title of Doctor of Divinity belonged 
to him by the natural fitness of things. It seemed most appro- 
priate to call him "Doctor Rice" even as a former generation 
had found it easy and natural to address his father as "Colonel." 

Dr. E. Darwin Hamilton, who died July 18, 1883, at the 
age of seventy-two, was one of the leading citizens of the town 
for many years. As a physician he held a large practice for 
half a century, succeeding his father. Dr. Washington Hamilton, 
also a native of the town. He was for many years president 
of the Conway National Bank. He was a favorite moderator 
at town meetings and acted in this capacity at the special 
meeting held in response to President Lincoln's call for troops 
in 1861. He was made a member of the committee of five to 
secure the enlistment of soldiers. He enjoyed the confidence of 
his community and was in every respect worthy of it. 

Capt. Charles Parsons was a prominent citizen in his day. 
His father, Joel Parsons, a Revolutionary soldier, came from 
Somers, Conn., and located on what is now known as Arms' 
Hill. In 1825 he built the farmhouse recently remodeled by 
James F. Tichenor. The son, Capt. Charles Parsons, sold this 
farm in 1837 to Franklin Arms and bought the Col. Charles 
Billings place, later known as "Grass Hill" farm. Captain 
Parsons was a successful and very prosperous farmer, interested 
in all public matters and held in high esteem by the people of the 
community. He died May 14, 1889, at the ripe age of ninety. 

Charles Baker Merritt, son of Capt. Pliny Merritt, was born 
in 1823 on the farm where he spent his entire life, the farm 
now owned by C. F. Elmer. Mr. Merritt was a successful 
farmer and one of the forceful business men of the town. For 
a number of years he served as a director in the Conway Mutual 
Insurance Company. Then, in 1884, he became a director of 
the Conway National Bank and was continued in this position 
until his death in 1899. He also was a trustee of the Savings 
Bank from its incorporation, in 1887, until his death and for 
much of the time served on its investment committee. He 
was influential in all of the affairs of the town and served in 
various public offices and on many important committees. 



98 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Jabez C. Newhall was born in Conway, August 12, 1825, 
and died November 24, 1901. He was deeply interested in 
the welfare of the town and lent his active and generous support 
to every good measure. He was an honorary member of the 
Francis A. Clary Post, G. A. R. An intelligent and progressive 
farmer, he was for many years a member of the Connecticut 
Valley Harvest Club, and for several years a member of the 
State Board of Agriculture. Mr. Newhall may be regarded as 
a type of the intelligent farming class who lend stability and 
moral strength to the community life. 

Franklin Pease in a modest and unobtrusive way was one 
of the strong men of the town for many years. He became 
a member of the State Legislature in 1862 and served in various 
town ofhces and positions of trust during the remainder of his 
life. He was for many years a trusted adviser in the manage- 
ment of the local banks. He was for about thirty years a 
tirustee of the Conway Methodist Church. He was prosperous 
in business and knew the value of money in doing good. He 
died April 5, 1903, at the age of seventy-nine. 

Carlos Batchelder was born in Conway, January 16, 1829. 
He received his education in the public schools and then for 
a time engaged with his father in farming. He served the town 
as a selectman for eight years, including three years of the 
Civil War. In 1870 he represented his district in the Legislature. 
In 1874 he became a member of the Board of County Commis- 
sioners and was continued in that position for fifteen years. 
He was one of the special commissioners appointed to superin- 
tend the building of the bridge at Turners Falls. For fifty 
years he was a trustee of the Franklin Agricultural Society. 
He was for many years a director of the Conway National 
Bank and on the death of Dr. Hamilton, in 1883, was made 
its president. He was one of the most active promoters of 
the Conway Electric Street Railway and became the first 
president of the company. He was for more than fifty years 
a member of the Conway Congregational Church and for many 
years one of its deacons. Mr. Batchelder gave his time freely 
to the promotion of business and religious interests and no 
citizen in his day was more influential in the community. He 
died December 20, 1901. 



FIFTY VFARS MORE. 99 

Dr. John B. Laidley was born in Weslhanipton, Mass., in 
1858, but spent his boyhood in the town of Huntington. By 
strenuous exertions he obtained a liberal education, graduating 
from the medical school in 1883 as valedictorian of his class. 
He located the same year in Conway succeeding to the practice 
of Dr. E. D. Hamilton, recently deceased. He soon acquired 
a reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon. His dev^otion 
to his patients in a time of unusual sickness overtaxed his 
strength and caused his death in the prime of life on March 18, 
1910. 

During his residence of twenty-seven years in Conway 
Dr. Laidley was actively interested in all of the religious, social, 
and political afifairs of the town. He was the moving spirit 
in building the electric railway in 1894. It was his magnetic 
leadership that carried the project through to completion. The 
officials of the N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad opposed the extension 
across the Dccrfield River and attempted to intimidate the 
officers of the electric road at the public hearing. Dr. Laidley, 
however, with ready wit and shrewd diplomacy made their 
opposition appear ridiculous. In 1906 he succeeded in inter- 
esting the officials of the Boston & Maine railroad in the purchase 
of the electric road and then planned and led to success the 
campaign in the Legislature for the bill permitting this transfer. 
Dr. Laidley was a brilliant conversationalist and a most genial 
companion, and everywhere won friends for himself and what- 
ever cause he might represent. He was Conway's "li\e wire" 
for a score of years. 

Henr\- Williams Billings was born in Conway, December 9, 
1826. He recei\ed his education in the town schools and at 
Deerfield Academy and Williston Seminary. He began his 
business career as clerk for the (^onway Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company and throughout his life he handled most of the fire 
insurance business in Conway as agent of various companies. 
In 1861 he was elected town clerk and in 1864 town treasurer 
and was annually continued in these offices as long as he lived. 
At the annual town meeting held March 6, 1911, he was pre- 
sented with a purse of fifty dollars in gold and the town by 
vote adopted the following resolution: — 



100 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

"Whereas, Henry W. Billings has served the town of Conway 
as town treasurer for forty-seven years and as town clerk for 
fifty years; and 

"Whereas, in this remarkable half century of service, a 
record almost unparalleled in the history of the commonwealth, 




H. \V. Billings, Esy. 

he has been an able and efficient servant, faithful, upright, ever 
respected, of unquestioned integrity, fulfilling his duties with 
credit to himself and honor to the community; 

"We, therefore, the citizens of Conway in town-meeting 
assembled, proud of his record, wish to express to Mr. Billings 
our appreciation of his upright character, our satisfaction with 



FIFTY YEARS MORE. 101 

and approval of the honorable manner in which he has discharged 
his trust, and extend to him our congratulations on the com- 
pletion of this half century of service to the communit\'." 

He lived to complete fifty-four years of service as town clerk 
and fifty-one years as town treasurer. His death occurred on 
June 13, 1915. 

Mr. Billings was justice of the peace and did considerable 
legal business in the way of making deeds, writing wills, and 
settling estates. For seventeen years preceding the establishing 
of the Franklin District Court he was trial justice and afterward 
held a commission to issue warrants. It was his practice to 
act as peacemaker if possible rather than to encourage litigation. 
For fifteen years he was treasurer of the Conway Co-operative 
Creamery, keeping accounts with the various patrons with 
absolute exactness. He was deeply interested in educational 
matters and for many years was chairman of the school board. 
He was a director of the old town library and became one of 
the original trustees of the Field Memorial Library. His long 
acquaintance with the town and his retentive memory made 
him an authority on all matters of local history. He early 
united with the local Congregational church and throughout his 
long life was a regular and appreciative attendant. F'or many 
years he was the leader of the choir and the superintendent of 
the Sunday School. 

Mr. Billings was the ideal public servant. Regarding official 
duties as a sacred trust, he was scrupulously exact in every item 
of business. His personal integrity was never for a moment 
questioned. His judgment was constantly sought in both public 
and private affairs, and for more than half a century he held a 
unique distinction as the trusted counselor and friend of exery 
one. 



Chapter IV. 
THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY. 

By Florenxe Mabel Pease. 

The rugged yet quiet beauty of Conway has been a source 
of strength and happiness to many individuals. The woods 
of maple, birch, and pine, the changing fields fringed with 
bushes and flowers, the hills with outstanding bowlders, the 
clear streams with their dashing waterfalls and quiet pools, all 
sound a note of alluring invitation to the sportsman, the nature 
lover, and the artist. 

The surface of the town is broken with many hills and 
valleys and the air of the region is pure and stimulating. The 
elevation of the village is from 520 feet to 640 feet above sea 
level. The highest point of land is in the western part of the 
town between the place belonging to the Elias Bradford estate and 
the Hillman place, now owned by C. P. Hassell. The height of 
this point is 1,504 feet. Other high hills are Dry Hill in the 
southern part of the town, 1,380 feet; Cricket Hill in the central 
part, 1,100 feet; and Field's Hill, south of the village. Field's Hill 
has two peaks, the easterly being 1,100 feet and the westerly 
1,140 feet. From the peaks of Field's Hill there is an extensive 
and beautiful view and some years there is not a month in the 
year that enterprising pedestrians do not avail themselves of 
an opportunity to see it. To the south one sees Mt. Tom and 
Mt. Holyoke; to the east, Amherst, Whately, Sunderland, the 
Deerfield Valley, and more distant points, Mt. Monadnock 
being one of the most prominent; to the north the villages of 
Conway, Greenfield, and Shelburne, and to the west Ashfield 
and distant peaks. The hills and woods near at hand, the 
valleys with attractive villages, and the more distant purple 
mountains form a view that seems to many as beautiful as any 
in the state. 

The two principal streams are South River and Bear River. 
The pleasant and winding valley of the South River is the 
natural outlet of the smaller streams of the town. South River 
furnishes mill power and flows into the Deerfield, flowing for 



THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY. 



103 



the last mile of its course in a more rocky bed with precipitous 
banks until near its junction with the Deerfield River it is 
spanned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad 
bridge, 175 feet high, the highest railroad bridge in the state. 
Bear River in Shirkshire also fiows into the Deerfield after 
making a deep, rocky, and exceedingly picturesque valley for 
itself, as it fiows through the northern part of the town. 




H'MPKiN Hollow and I'ikld'^ Hi 



The abundance of brooks is one of the marked natural 
features of the town. The most noteworthy of these are Roaring 
Brook, rising on the easterly slope of Cricket Hill and flowing 
into Mill River in Whately, and Poland Brook, which rises in 
Ashfield and flows into South River. Chapel Falls on this 
brook, about a mile from Poland Center, deserves to be better 
known, but many note its charms every year. The water falls 
rapidly over the rocks three times, each time making a deep 
pool before leaping again. There is also a natural waterfall 
near Reed's mill, which is beautiful at all times of the year. 

The only large bodies of water to which Conway can lay 
claim are the reservoir and Lake Wequanock in Wildwood Park. 
Lake Wequanock is made by the setting back of the water from 



104 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the large dam which was built for the Conway Electric Light 
and Power Company, but this makes it no less delightful for 
boating. 

Wildwood Park is on the line of the Conway Electric Road. 
When the trolley line was built, the underbrush was cleared 
from a large tract of land and an excellent pavilion was erected, 
while the fine natural features of wood and river were left 
untouched, so the park has been the scene of innumerable 
picnics and of the justly famed Masonic clambakes. Before 
Wildwood Park was brought into existence. Arms grove was 
much used for outdoor gatherings. The grove is a natural 
amphitheatre and it was here that the centennial exercises were 
held in 1867 and here that the townspeople united in giving 
four performances of "The Festival of the Hills" in 1915. 

The geographical features of Conway which have attracted 
most attention are the Conway schists and the evidences in 
support of the theory of the "Conway Lake." The exact age 
of the rocks which appear at the surface in Conway is not known 
with certainty. That these rocks belong to an earlier period 
than the Devonian is generally accepted, for the position of 
the strata indicates that they are older than rocks at Bernards- 
ton whose fossils prove them to be of Devonian formation. 

Professor Hitchcock of Amherst, who probably made the 
closest study of the geology of this region, has given the name 
"Conway schist" to the "finely corrugated muscovite-schist" 
which is so abundant here. This rock is of a dark coaly nature 
often containing small garnets and staurolite. Even the origin 
of these Conway schists is somewhat doubtful ; although appear- 
ing to show the stratification of sedimentary deposits in many 
instances, quite similar effects are often produced in rocks of 
igneous origin by cleavage lines produced by great pressures. 
The complicated contortions of these strata are good proof of 
the pressures to which these rocks have been subjected. If 
they were laid down as a sedimentary deposit it must have 
been under an inland sea that extended northerly into the 
continent in about the same locality as is occupied by the Green 
Mountains of to-day. This uncertainty of origin does not 
extend to the granites of the southern and southeastern part 
of the town for these are of igneous origin. 



THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY. 105 

Conway shows the effect of the movement of the great 
North American ice sheet in the rounded hilltops, especially 
on the northwest side of the hills whence the strongest pressure 
came. Many of the gravel beds of Conway at the higher 
altitudes were doubtless formed in the melting of the ice sheet 
as the climate grew warmer. 

Professor B. K. Emerson of the U. S. Geological Survey 
advances a very interesting theory in connection with the 
retreat of this glacier toward the north under the return of 
warmer seasons. This theory is that when the ice front reached 
what is now Conway at about the point known as Field's Hill, 
the continued retreat would be toward lower ground, but the 
front of the ice sheet prevented the escape of the waters toward 
the north, as the valley now drains, so a small lake would 
necessarily be formed, overflowing to the south through the 
narrow cut to the west of Field's Hill. As the ice front con- 
tinued its retreat to the north, the lake grew in size, still draining 
through the notch in the hills and following the valley of what 
is now the West Whately Brook. The ice barrier must have 
remained a comparatively long time near what is now the 
junction of the South River and the Deerfield, blocking the 
waters to a height shown by the top of the hill where the Totman 
fann is now located. Under these conditions we can imagine 
what Professor Emerson calls the Conway Lake occupying the 
entire valley, where the village now stands, to a height deter- 
mined by the outlet near Field's Hill. Finally the ice barrier 
must have melted away from the northern end of the valley 
and the pent-up waters were allowed to make their escape to 
the Deerfield Valley and thus to the Connecticut. At this 
time we would have seen the valley in Conway as the bed of 
a suddenly emptied lake, through which the newly made South 
River wended its way eastward from Ashfield and northward 
to its outlet into the Deerfield. The level of this old lake bed 
would be represented at this time by Academy Hill, Baptist 
Hill, and the corresponding terraces on both sides of the valley 
past Charles Elmer's and Joseph Newhall's to Conway Station. 
Since this period the stream has been cutting out a deeper 
channel in the valley and it is in this newly cut valley in the 
old lake bed that the most of Conway village now stands. 



106 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



Like the surrounding towns, Conway, when first settled, was 
Covered with a heavy growth of trees of many varieties com- 
prising white pine, pitch pine, chestnut, oak, hemlock, black 
birch, cherry, elm, and maple. As late as 1854 the meadow 
on the west side of the Northampton road just as the road 
enters the \illage was a swamp full of hemlock stumps. 




One uf Conway's Great Elms. 



Although some of the wood's have fallen before the steam mills 
there are still many valuable and extensive tracts of wood and 
timber left. 

Some trees deserve special mention. Rev. John Emerson, 
who was installed as the first minister of the town in 1769, 
set out in front of his home on Baptist Hill two elms, which 
are now magnificent trees, tall and symmetrical, one measuring 
16 feet 4 inches in circumference and the other measuring 
14 feet 8 inches. Another splendid elm, 15 feet in circumference, 
stands upon the triangle at the fork of the roads on Baptist Hill. 



THE xNATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY. 107 

This tree, which casts a shade 100 feet across, has sheltered 
many outdoor social gatherings. The Whitney elm, which had 
to be taken down in 1916, stood near the residence of Gen. 
James S. Whitney and the birthplace of William C. Whitney. 
It measured 16 feet 5 inches in circumference. The Centennial 
elm on the common in Pumpkin Hollow was planted in 1867 
by the oldest men in the town. On the hill east of the Pumpkin 
Hollow common stands a white oak, the only white oak for a 
long distance. Perhaps nowhere in the state have maple trees 
reached so large a growth. A maple tree cut on the farm of 
F. L. Totman in 1915 was 17 feet 6 inches in circumference and 
yielded eight cords of firewood. A maple in the sugar orchard 
that was formerly a part of the Gen. Asa Howland farm has 
been set for many years with seven sap tubs. Two trees in 
this sugar orchard are over sixteen feet in circumference and a 
number measure from twelve to fifteen feet. 

Conway has a great variety and abundance of wild flowers, 
the small kinds being particularly well represented. Thirty- five 
varieties of ferns have been found and classified. The birds 
are also abundant. The hunting, trapping, and fishing attract 
visitors every year. It is encouraging to note the growing 
interest in the conservation of all our natural resources, includ- 
ing the stocking of streams and the preservation of rare wild 
flowers. 




Gen. James S. Whitnly. 



Chapter V. 

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 

By Edward Affhauser. 

It is interesting to follow the gradual changes in the business 
and industry of the town from the early years of settlement 
onward. How changing conditions in the life of the nation, 
caused by the growth of population, the growth of increased 
means of communication through the building of more and 
better highways and, finally, the revolution in transportation 
through the growth and development of the railroads, the great 
expansion of manufacturing, and the building up of the cities 
at the expense of the population of the towns, ha\e caused a 
complete change in the industrial and business life, in the 
character and manner of living of the people. 

In the early years the town was a distinctly frontier farming 
community, furnishing practically all its needs almost independ- 
ent of the outside world for any of its wants. P2ach family 
raised the grain for feeding its stock, all its own food sup- 
plies, corn and wheat, beef, pork and mutton, hides for shoes, 
wool and flax for clothing. Hides of their own raising were 
tanned at the local tannery and made into shoes by the cobbler, 
or perhaps, as was often the case, the head of the family was 
ingenious enough to make them himself. Their own wool and 
flax was spun and ^.'()vcn and made into clothing by the women 
of the household. 

In the, early years the principal surplus product of the farms 
was cattle, sheep, wool, and hides. Cattle and sheep were 
raised for the Boston market. Cattle drovers periodically picked 
them up and drove them in large herds and flocks to Brighton. 
One of the most famous of these, Caleb Sherman, was a drover 
from 1797 to 1842. It is said that he made upwards of five 
hundred trips to Boston. On the first day of July, 1813, he 
fell through the Connecticut River bridge at Montague, with 
his dro\e, and had his leg so injured that it was amputated 
above the knee. By the next October he was again on the 
road following his business. 



no HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

After the building of the Connecticut River railroad and 
later of the Fitchburg, the cattle were driven to South Deerfield 
and Greenfield and shipped on the cars. In later years, after 
1850 and continuing into the eighties, a large business was 
conducted in the purchase of cattle and sheep in the interior 
of New York state, driving them to Conway and fattening 
them for the market. In 1862 Charles Parsons brought in 
three thousand sheep by rail to Troy and drove them home 
from there over the Hoosac mountain. 

The principal crops in the early years were corn, rye, wheat, 
and potatoes. Tobacco was first raised about 1860, Austin 
Foote in the South Part raising the first crop. The acreage 
devoted to its production increased rapidly so that in 1866 
over two hundred acres were raised and the tax list for that 
year shows tobacco assessed to the value of $55,200. This 
was about the high mark and production declined to much 
smaller proportions for a long period. In 1900, however, it 
had again risen to about one hundred and fifty acres a year. 
Since then it has steadily declined again, until now, 1916, 
approximately seventy acres are being raised. 

Before 1840 the sale of dairy products was small but from 
then the amount steadily increased with the growth of the 
cities and the development of better means of access to these 
markets, and for many years, butter, cream, and milk have 
been the most important products of the farms. For a period 
of twenty-five or thirty years the bulk of the butter was marketed 
through the store in Pumpkin Hollow, owned by William 
Campbell. Every week the farmers brought in their butter 
and he shipped it to the Boston market. At one time the 
receipts of butter at this store were over 2,000 pounds weekly. 
After 1870 the other stores obtained a share of the butter busi- 
ness and with the building of the Conway Creamery in 1886 
the business went into new channels. 

The Conway Co-operative Creamery was organized in 1886 
with a capital of $3,500. J. B. Packard was president and 
Charles Parsons treasurer. Buildings were erected and opera- 
tions started in July. The next year W. A. Pease was engaged 
as superintendent and afterward H. W. Billings became treas- 
urer. The business was a success from the start and showed 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY 



111 



a steady increase from \car to year. In 1901, 2,233,698 pounds 
of cream were received from 274 patrons and made into 227 
tons of butter. The amount paid patrons for cream was 
$100,726.10. The company was awarded the gold medal and 
two first premiums at the Bay State F"air, Boston, where there 
were over 200 entries from leading New England creameries 
and fancy dairies; also awarded first premium at the Rhode 
Island State Fair, Proxidence. In the summer of 1906 the 





^^^gl 


HIn 


l^^^^- 







Conway Cre.vmerv. 



buildings were destroyed b\' fire. The burning of the creamery 
gave the big milk distributers for the Boston market an oppor- 
tunity to extend their field to Conway. Most of the creamery 
patrons then began selling tlieir milk to these dealers, and 
the creamery was not rebuilt. Since then the principal product 
of the farms has been milk shipped to Boston and Springfield 
and both milk and cream to Northampton. At the present 
time, 1916, the average amount of milk shipped daily is from 
3,000 to 3,500 quarts to Boston and about 2,500 to Springfield 
and Northampton. 

The early industries were mostly small enterprises established 
to meet local needs, but since 1837, manufacturing has occupied 



112 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

an important place in the life of the town and it is in its manu- 
facturing interests that Conway finds the chief element of its 
prosperity. South River, flowing through the village, provides 
a number of fine water powers for the town's manufacturing 
industries. 

The first mill was a gristmill and was built by Caleb Sharp, 
who was part negro and part Indian, in 1767, where the De 
Wolfe shoe factory now stands. He was succeeded by a negro, 
Caesar Wood, called "Black Caesar," a sort of "jack of all 
trades." After him came Asahel Wood, followed by Thomas 
Cole. The mill was run by John Sprague for many years until 
his death in the seventies, and then by Robert Forsyth until 
the burning of the mill about 1879. Capt. Charles Parsons 
sold in one year 3,000 bushels of corn to be ground in this mill. 
A second gristmill was built about 1770 at the Thwing place, 
now known as the Seffens place, and now operated by Daniel 
Seft'ens & Son. There was another for a number of years on 
Bear River. After the burning of Robert Forsyth's mill Emory 
Brown built the present gristmill near the Main Street bridge, 
which he operated until its purchase by the present owner, 
Alvin C. Boice, in 1896. 

There were a number of early sawmills on South River, 
one at Leukhardt's Falls, a second at Reed's, owned by William 
Warren, who also operated a gristmill on the same site, and a 
third at the present site of Flagg's mill. There was also one 
on Bear River and another on Roaring Brook. Emory Brown 
built and operated for many years a sawmill near Boice's mill. 
This mill was burned in 1901. William Fay operated the mill 
at Flagg's for many years and for a time chairs were made 
there. The present mill was built by him in 1879 after the 
burning of the old mill, and since his death a few years later 
it has been operated by C. C. Flagg and his sons. 

There were several brickyards operated at different periods, — 
one of the earliest near Leukhardt's Falls, one near Boice's 
mill, another in the South Part, and still another near Bardwell's 
Ferry. There were a number of tanneries; the principal one 
and last one remaining was near the site of Boice's mill. It 
was owned by William T. Clapp and was burned in 1871, There 
was a hatter's shop on Baptist Hill for many years conducted 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 113 

by Christopher Arms, and Deacon Jonathan Ware and his sons 
carried on the manufacture of combs at the place now occupied 
by William Warriner. 

Tinware has been made from an early period; at one time 
near the present Shirkshire schoolhouse, and at several places 
in the village. There was a tin shop for many years on Baptist 
Hill where the house of H. V. Hale now stands. The building 
was afterward moved and is now the home of Mrs. Mary Wright. 
Wagons laden with the product of this shop traveled the sur- 
rounding country, went far into Western New York and even 
penetrated as far south as the Carolinas, peddling their wares. 
At one time, about 1830, a caravan of six wagons, driven by the 
following men, Rodolphus Rice, Samuel Dunham, Leander 
Whitney, Eleazer F. Flagg, Kimball Batchelder, and Gardner 
Stearns, went to South Carolina loaded with tinware from this 
shop. Later there was a tin shop near the bridge on Main 
Street and following that, in the building opposite the watering 
trough on River Street. The building is now made into a 
tenement house. Roswell G. Rice bought the shop in 1878 
and shortly afterward built the present building across the 
street and ran the tin shop and plumbing business until selling 
to the present owner, Wayne E. Roberts, in 1915. 

The first manufacturing industry, other than a saw or grist 
mill, was started by Aaron Hayden in 1780, who set up a 
"fulling" mill on a site near Boice's mill. Seventeen years 
later Dr. Moses Hayden and R. Wells added an oil mill for 
grinding flaxseed and expressing the oil. In 1810 its site was 
occupied by a broadcloth factory. Later, William Hamilton 
and his brother, Benjamin F. Hamilton, first started the manu- 
facture of cotton cloth in Conway in this mill. It was afterward 
operated as a cotton bag factory by General Dickinson. It was 
destroyed by fire in 1856. 

In 1837 the manufacturing industry received its first great 
impetus. In that year Gen. Asa Howland built the cotton 
mill known in recent years as the Tucker & Cook Lower Mill, 
and Edmund Burke, founding the Conway Manufacturing 
Company, built the first woolen mill, in Burkeville. In 1842 
Alonzo Parker began the manufacture of carpenters' and joiners' 
tools in Burkeville, and shortly afterward, organizing as the 



114 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Conway Tool Company, the business was expanded until upward 
of eighty men were employed. In 1851 the company transferred 
its operations to Greenfield and there reorganized as the Green- 
field Tool Company. The South River Cutlery Company erected 
extensive works in Burkeville in 1851 for the manufacture of 
table cutlery and employed at one time about one hundred and 
thirty-five men. The enterprise failed, however, after four or 
five years and passed out of existence. About 1850, and running 
for a number of years, there was a chair factory in Burkeville. 
Below Burkeville, in 1846, Gen. James S. Whitney and Charles 
Wells built a factory for the manufacture of seamless cotton 
bags. They were succeeded by L. B. Wright and the buildings 
were destroyed by fire in 1856. The mill was rebuilt and 
operated by Richard Tucker in the manufacture of cotton warps 
and yarns. In 1860 Mr. Tucker and his son-in-law, Chelsea 
Cook, organized the firm of Tucker & Cook and took over in 
addition the mill built by Gen. Asa Rowland in 1837. Here 
they began the manufacture of knitting cotton. At one time 
their annual production of knitting cotton was about 200,000 
pounds and they employed about forty hands, while in the 
upper mill about fifty were employed and the annual production 
of warps and yarns was about 250,000 pounds. After the death 
of Richard Tucker, in 1889, the company experienced financial 
difificulties and the business declined. Chelsea Cook died in 
1905 and the business was closed two years later. In 
1914 the upper mill property was sold to the De Wolfe Shoe 
Company and the lower mill was purchased by Edgar Jones 
and made into a barrel factory. In 1845 the Conway Manu- 
facturing Company enlarged their woolen mill in Burkeville. 
The company suspended in 1857, and in 1858 Edmund Burke, 
reviving the business, continued until 1867. In that year the 
property was purchased by Edward Delabarre. The firm 
became Delabarre & HackstafT in 1871, William G. Hackstaff 
becoming a partner. In 1881, the firm became W. E. Delabarre 
& Company, Mr. Hackstaff leaving and Walter E. Delabarre 
entering the business. The business under Edward Delabarre's 
management was very successful. Additions to the mill were 
built and its capacity increased to thirty-two looms employing 
one hundred and fifteen hands and making annually about 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY 



115 



350,000 yards of fancy cassinieres and other clofti. In 1892 
Mr. Delabarre closed the mills and retired from business. The 
mill remained closed until the fall of 1903 when it was leased 
by James Hennessey of New York and started again making 
woolen goods. The business was only fairly started, however, 
when in March, 1904, the mill was destroyed by fire, and was 
not rebuilt. 




BiKKKviLLE Woolen Mill. 



l)e Wolfe, Bagnall & Company, shoe manufacturers, remoxed 
here from Marlboro in 1896, into a factory built for them by 
the people of the town. Mr. Bagnall left in 1898 and the 
business was conducted by C. F. De Wolfe and H. B. Hassell 
under the name of De Wolfe & Hassell. They were succeeded 
in 1910 by the De Wolfe Shoe Company, Mr. Hassell leaving 
the firm. This business is Conway's most important industry. 
The buildings lune been enlarged several times, and they 
employ (1916) about one hundred and twenty people with an 
annual output of shoes of about ^S275,000 value. 

The Conant & Donelson Company, tap and die manufac- 
turers, came here from Greenfield in 1909. F. W. Conant is 



116 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

manager and W. E. Donelson salesman. A brick building was 
erected on the site of the old Delabarre woolen mill and the 
factory started operations early in 1910. The business is 
steadily growing and now employs about thirty people. 

A factory was built in 1900 for Darby & Moore, duck coat 
manufacturers, who came here from North Adams. The busi- 
ness did not prove a success and was closed down in a couple 
of years. 

In 1879 T. J. Shepardson erected a mill on the present site 
of Reed's mill and began the manufacture of cotton yarns. 
The business did not flourish and suffered many vicissitudes 
and changes in ownership until the building was finally destroyed 
by fire. In 1896 H. G. Reed erected a turning mill on the site 
and has since conducted a successful business in the manufacture 
of screw-driver and small tool handles. In the fall of 1916 
Mr. Reed sold the property to the Goodell-Pratt Company of 
Greenfield. 

The first store was run by Tom Arms on Baptist Hill on 
the site now occupied by the Baptist church horse sheds. The 
building was afterward moved and rebuilt and is now the home 
of Charles Wildes. Later there was a store on Baptist Hill 
in the brick building which is part of the home of Perkins 
Batchelder. This was run for years by Amos Batchelder and 
afterward by Lansford Batchelder, the grandfather and father 
respectively of Perkins Batchelder. Another of the earlier stores 
was the Pumpkin Hollow store. This was run for many years 
by Elisha Billings, the uncle of our late town clerk, Henry W. 
Billings. In a' memorial address on the life of his father, 
Henry W. Billings, written by Edward C. Billings for the 
Pocumtuck Historical Society, he says: "But I cannot pass 
by Pumpkin Hollow without referring to other associations of 
my father's boyhood of which I have often heard him speak. 
Here, beside the church and schoolhouse, stood the 'general 
store,' a forum for the discussion of political and other important 
public matters, where, incidentally, a farmer might barter 
butter and eggs. In my father's boyhood his Uncle Elisha was 
master of ceremonies here. Among the leading controversialists 
who gathered round his stove on winter evenings were Phineas 
Bartlett, justice of the peace, whose home and judicial chambers 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 117 

were just across the green, and Col. Charles E. Billings, selectman 
and representative in the General Court." Elisha Billings also 
served as representative in the General Court and was town 
clerk from 1827 to 1837. There was another store conducted 
for a number of years by a Mr. Williams near the flag pole on 
the new public playground. In 1838 William G. Campbell 
succeeded Mr. Billings in the Pumpkin Hollow store and con- 
tinued until he sold to Lee, Dodge & Hawkes in 1881. Mr. 
Campbell was versatile and resourceful and a man of prominence 
in the community, and his store for many years did a large 
business. He had for a long while the bulk of the butter business 
besides taking other products of the farm in exchange for his 
goods. At one time he sent a four-horse load of chestnuts to 
Boston. He was a deputy sheriff for many years and served 
a term as representative in the Legislature. George C. Lee, 
Clifford N. Dodge, and W. E. Hawkes bought out Mr. Campbell. 
They separated in 1884, Mr. Lee retaining the business, which 
he managed until closing it out in 1900. Dodge & Hawkes 
started a store on Main Street on the site of the present Hawkes 
block. After a short time Dodge left the firm and Mr. Hawkes 
continued the business. The building was destroyed by fire in 
1894. Mr. Hawkes built the present building the following 
year and carried on the business until his death in 1915. 
Floyd A. Clark, the present owner, came here from Monroe 
Bridge and purchased the store in March, 1916. 

There was for many years a store on the corner where the 
Hopkins house now stands. John M. and Fisher Ames ran 
this store for a number of years. The store afterward passed 
through the following various changes of ownership: John M. 
Ames and C. H. Billings, Leonard Stearns, Lansford Batchelder, 
Hezekiah Andrews, and Leonard Stearns & Son. The building 
was burned in 1875 and the store went out of existence. C. G. 
Townsend ran a store for a number of years on what is now 
the shoe-shop green. 

The Burkeville store was started in 1838 by Edmund Burke, 
as a company store. When the Burkeville mills were flourishing 
this store did a large business. It passed through many owner- 
ships: Gilman Hassell, Franklin Childs and I. P. Baker, Childs, 
Baker & Lawrence, Childs, Baker & Irvine, Townsend & Hassell, 



118 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Townsend & Delabarre, and C. G. Townsend. In 1885 Daniel 
Eldridge and Harry Billings bought the store of the Townsend 
estate. After a couple of years Mr. Eldridge ran the business 
alone until closing it out in 1889. 

About 1840, Gen. James S. Whitney erected the building 
and started the store on Main Street now run by H. B. Hassell. 
After a few years General Whitney sold to Dickinson, Wells & 
Edgerton. They were followed by Lucius Smith. R. M. Tucker 
puchased the store in 1865 and ran it until 1880 when he sold 
to C. G. Townsend, A. P. Delabarre, and William Luey. After 
a short time the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Delabarre 
ran the store until 1889 when it was purchased by Daniel Eldridge 
and Willard Boyden. They sold to A. P. and W. F. Delabarre 
in 1892, who under the firm name of Delabarre Bros, conducted 
the business until its purchase by George M. Darby in 1900. 
Then the firm became successively George M. Darby & Son 
and W. W. Darby. Financial difficulties caused the closing 
of the store in 1908. The store was opened again in 1910 and 
has since been conducted by Harry B. Hassell. 

Har\'ey Townsend started a jewelry and notions store in 
the Lawrence block on Main Street in 1858 and conducted 
it until the building burned in 1898, when he retired from 
business. Gilbert E. Tuttle opened a jewelry store in 1900. 
He sold to Alexander Sinclair, the present owner, in 1906. 

Charles C. Burdette of Springfield came to Conway and 
started a drug store in 1879, in the Lawrence block on Main 
Street. After his death in 1893 the store was conducted by 
Henry Hopkins and on the completion of the Hawkes block 
was moved to its present location. Mr. Hopkins died in 1900 
and the business has since been conducted by the present owner, 
Edward Affhauser. 

There have been a number of markets in years past. Samuel 
Bigelow ran a market for a long while on River Street. In 
recent years Homer Cooley ran a market in the building on 
Main Street in the rear of the Hamilton house, where the 
AfThauser residence now stands. This building was burned in 
1894. Henry Hopkins went into the River Street market with 
his father-in-law, Mr. Bigelow, and afterward ran it alone for 
a number of years until selling to Clarence A. Smith in 1892. 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 119 

Mr. Smith ran the market until his death in 1909; since then 
Allen R. Cook has managed the business for the C. A. Smith 
Estate. 

I. N. Hitchcock started his hardware business on Elm Street 
in 1899. He does an extensive business in hardware and agri- 
cultural implements. 

The first , wagon maker was Robert Hamilton. He was a 
big man weighing nearly 400 pounds and lived where J. M. 
Stearns & Son now live. He made a carriage for Parson Emerson 
about 1769 or 1770 which is said to have been the first carriage 
in Franklin Count>' and affords basis for a claim that Conway 
produced the first carriage in America. 

William M. Howland was another wagon maker who flour- 
ished about 1840 or 1850 where George Howland now lives. 
Manley Hemenway was a builder of wagons at his shop above 
the reservoir for a great many years. He died in 1913. John S. 
Holcomb started as wagon maker on River Street in 1849 and 
made a great many wagons in his day. Since his death in 1898 
the business has been continued by his sons, J. R. and 
F. Holcomb. 

A bakery was started by J. E. Robertson in the old Hamilton 
house on Main Street in 1899. He moved to the new building 
built by him next the bridge in 1901. Later the business was 
run for a couple of years by Frank Ward, but the business 
declined and it was closed in 1906. 

Before the days of the electric railroad, li\ery stables flour- 
ished. With no other public means of transportation except 
the stages there was of necessity a good livery business and the 
carting of freight for the mills made a lot of heavy teaming. 
The stable in Burkeville did the bulk of the heavy teaming. 
This was run for some years by Walter Guilford, who sold out 
to Solomon Pease about 1870. Mr. Pease ran the stable until 
closing it out about 1908. Henry and Solomon Pease ran a 
stable on Main Street for a number of years. Gordon H. 
Johnson bought this stable in 1869 and ran it until closing it 
out and retiring from business in 1916. Alpheus and Dennis 
Bates ran a stable for many years on Baptist Hill where Charles 
Wildes now lives. 



120 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

The stages carried the mail and passengers and light freight 
and express. The mail route was let from South Deerfield to 
South Adams and a stage ran daily from Ashfield to South 
Deerfield and return and three times a week from Ashfield to 
South Adams. Cephas Crafts was one of the earlier stage 
drivers. Then Cross & Phillips, who ran the Ashfield House, 
ran the stage for many years. They were followed by Payson 
Eldridge and about 1870 by Julius and Arthur C. Guilford. In 
1879 Arthur Guilford went into the hotel and his brother, 
Julius, ran the stage until his death in 1887. Wilder Truesdell 
then ran the stage about two years for Mr. Guilford's widow 
and afterwards on his own account until the Electric Street 
Railway was built in 1894. Levi Dole also ran a stage to 
Bardwell's Ferry and, after the building of the Shelburne Falls & 
Northampton railroad, Edward Wing ran a stage to Conway 
Station. 

Phineas Bartlett was a harness maker and ran a shop in 
Pumpkin Hollow for many years. He lived in a house which 
stood where Mrs. W'illiam Wilder's house now stands and the 
shop was a separate building standing in the yard. About 
1850 he retired and his son, Theodore Bartlett, took the shop. 
A year or two later Theodore Bartlett built the house now^ 
occupied by Gordon H. Johnson and the shop was moved to 
a front room in this building. In 1869 Theodore Bartlett built 
the house next to the Methodist church and moved the shop 
there. After his death, in 1890, his son, William M. Bartlett, 
conducted the business until his death in 1910. 

David Lyons ran a cabinet making and undertaking shop 
on Main Street. He was followed by Benjamin Cloyes and 
afterward Emerson Foote conducted the shop for many years 
until the building was burned in 1898. 

The first tavern keeper in town was Thomas French. His 
house stood on Baptist Hill a little way up the road toward the 
Tichenor place. Here the first town meeting was held, in 1767. 
It is probable that he kept tavern there some time previous to 
that date. Landlord French was a great man in those days 
and his house a place of popular resort. He was also a great 
landowner and it was his boast that he could walk to Deerfield 
without stepping off his own broad acres. Reverses overtook 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 121 

him later in life and he died a pauper. Another tavern for many 
years was in what has since been known as the Kearns house 
on Baptist Hill and of which only a pile of rubbish remains. 

Col. Jabez Newhall was another famous innkeeper. He 
ran a tavern in Conway for forty-five years, first for a few years 
at the place where Dwight Weston now lives and afterward in 
Pumpkin Hollow at the place now occupied by his grandson, 
Harry T. Newhall. 

The hotel building on Main Street was built by Franklin 
Childs some time before 1850 and many landlords have come 
and gone in the years that have elapsed. One of the first was 
Mr. Aiken, followed by Mr. Barrus. Then came Amos Stetson, 
who was landlord in 1867, and provided the Centennial dinner 
for a thousand people in a tent back of the town hall. Succeeding 
him came William Baker, William Orcutt, Horace & Gilbert 
Arms, Jerome Talmadge, E. E. Lyman, A. C. Guilford from 
1879 to 1898, Joseph Liichapelle, Joshua King, Joseph Lachapelle 
again, W'. F. Brown, and from 1908 the present landlord, William 
J. Stack. 

Conway was the possessor, in 1798 and 1799, of a village 
newspaper, called the Farmers' Register, published weekly by 
Theodore Leonard. It was printed first on Baptist Hill and 
later in Pumpkin Hollow, and on its title page proclaimed its 
fearless independence in the following couplet: — 

"Here truth unlicensed reigns, and dares accost 
Even Kings themselves, or rulers of the free." 

Both truth and error must in fact have "reigned" without 
license or other control, in Mr. Leonard's paper. He had no 
editorial sentiments, and published with a looseness whatever 
came to his hand, on all sides. Advertisements were few and 
news generally mildewed with age when printed in the Register, 
although it would sometimes get Washington news only three 
weeks old and London news in about sixty to ninety days. 
Mr. Leonard also printed a hymn book compiled by "Elder" 
Josiah Goddard, an early pastor of the Baptist church. 

Conway was without a newspaper from that time until 
1885 when for about two years Horace E. Miller printed a 
weekly paper called the Comcay Banner. 



122 " HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

The first post office in Conway was situated on Baptist Hill 
in a hatter's shop where the barn of Mrs. Mary Stearns now 
stands. Christopher Arms was the first postmaster. Two men 
were killed by lightning in the doorway of this building in 1824. 
The post office was afterwards moved to the place now occupied 
by the barn of A. C. Guilford. This building was burned in 
1856. The office was next moved to the building now occupied 
by Hassell's store, and then for a short time was in the building 
now the home of Gordon H. Johnson. It was next moved to the 
Lawrence block and afterward to the Foote block. Both these 
buildings were burned in 1898. The post office was moved to 
its present location in the Masonic building in August, 1896. 

The following persons have served as postmasters: Chris- 
topher Arms, Gen. James S. Whitney, Anson Shepard, Gurdon 
Edgerton, Thomas S. Dickinson, 1853 to 1861; Richard Tucker, 
1861 to 1875; .Harvey Townsend, 1875 to 1886; Daniel Eldridge, 
1886 to 1889; Charles C. Burdette, 1889 to 1893; Austin 
Stearns from 1893. 

Many attempts had been made to secure a railway into 
Conway, but the ever-present hills about her had successfully 
barred the way until the advent of electricity. Meanwhile, the 
town, like others around her, had declined steadily in population 
until in the decade from 1885 to 1895 she lost four hundred and 
eighty-three of her population and one eighth of her valuation. 

Realizing the seriousness of this condition and believing that 
only improved transportation facilities and better connection 
with the outside world would stem the tide and enable the 
town to maintain its prosperity and industrial life, several of 
her citizens started the project of an electric railway. Surveys 
were made and the route to Conway Station on the N. Y., 
N. H. & H. railroad selected. After strenuous efforts the money 
was raised and the road built. The first trip was made March 29, 
1895. It soon became evident that the road to be a success 
must be extended across the Deerfield River and connect with 
the Fitchburg division of the Boston & Maine railroad. This 
meant raising a great deal more money, but the battle was 
taken up and, after some delays, the Deerfield was bridged and 
the extension finished to South River Station, which was built 
for the accommodation of the electric road. 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 123 

In 1906 Dr. J. B. Laidley, the president of the road, suc- 
ceeded in interesting the directors of the Fitchburg railroad in 
the development of the water powers on South River, and an 
arrangement was entered into for the purchase by the Fitch- 
burg railroad of the control of the electric road. Permission, 
however, had to be first obtained from the Legislature, and 
this entailed a tremendous struggle which took most of the 
session of 1907, and the echoes of which have hardly yet died 
away. A great antagonism was encountered because of the 
suspicion entertained by many that this inoffensive looking act 
was an opening wedge by which the railroads would obtain 
control of the electric roads of the state, but all opposition 
was finally overcome and the measure passed. The agreement 
was then carried out and the electric road has since been con- 
trolled by the Fitchburg railroad. The new management has 
spent large sums in improving the condition of the road and 
its equipment. In 1909 the new concrete dam at Wildwood 
was built at an expense of about $35,000. 

The road carries passengers, mail, express, and freight and 
was the first electric railway in Massachusetts to obtain a 
charter for hauling freight. With side tracks to each of the 
mills for the easy handling of freight and rates just half the 
former rates for hauling freight by team, it at once became an 
important factor in the town's economic development. It 
arrested the decline in the growth of the town and justified 
its existence and the hopes and foresight of its builders, and 
stands as a monument to their courage and enterprise. 

The original officers of the Conway Flectric Street Railway 
Co. were: Carlos Batchelder, president; William G. Avery, 
treasurer; Arthur M. Cook, auditor; John B. Laidley, clerk; 
Arthur C. Guilford, superintendent; Carlos Batchelder, John B. 
Packard, Emory Brown, Charles Parsons, Arthur P. Delabarre, 
Franklin Pease, and Fred A. Delabarre, directors. The officers 
at present are: J. H. Hustis, president; A. P. Delabarre, vice- 
president; W. M. Alden, superintendent. 

The Conway Electric Light & Power Company was organ- 
ized in 1896. The company acquired about one hundred acres 
of land on South River adjacent to and including Wildwood 
Park. The following year the first dam and power house were 



124 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

built. The dam was of timber and stone crib construction, 
fifty-five feet high, giving a ninety-foot head at the wheels 
two hundred feet below and capable of developing three hundred 
to five hundred horse power. After the completion of the plant, 
power was sold to the Conway Electric Street Railway and the 
electric road discontinued the use of their steam plant except 
for emergencies. In 1900 the electric lighting plant was added, 
transmission lines constructed, and the town wired for lights. 
The current was turned on and the town lighted by electricity 
for the first time in November, 1900. In 1904 this company 
was dissolved, having transferred its dam, water power, and 
electrical plant to the Conway Electric Street Railway Com- 
pany, and a new company was formed under the name of the 
Deerfield River Electric Light Company for the distribution of 
electricity in Conway. The officers of the company were: 
John B. Packard, president; Fred A. Delabarre, clerk and 
treasurer; John B. Packard, Arthur P. Delabarre, Emory Brown, 
John B. Laidley, Fred A. Delabarre, directors. By 1916 the 
Street Railway Company found that its own requirements for 
electric current were at times sufficient to use all that could 
be produced at this plant. The demand for current for light 
and power had also constantly increased until it became neces- 
sary to provide a new source of supply, and the franchises, 
property, and business of the Deerfield River Electric Light 
Company were sold to the Greenfield Electric Light and Power 
Company. The latter company has entirely rebuilt the dis- 
tribution lines, and with its unlimited power and resources will 
be able to supply any demand which may be made upon it. 

The Conway Mutual Insurance Company was organized in 
1849 and in 1854 changed to the Conway Stock and Mutual 
Insurance Company. In 1860 it transferred its stock depart- 
ment to Boston and in 1876 went out of business. Dr. E. D. 
Hamilton was president and H. W. Billings, treasurer. For a 
time the company did an extensive business. 

The first Conway bank was chartered by the Legislature 
of Massachusetts in 1854, and was one of the pioneers among 
the financial institutions of Franklin County. The original 
corporators named in the act creating the bank were Edmund 
Burke, Charles Parsons, and Austin Rice. Another prime 



BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY. 125 

mover in its organization was Gen. James S. Whitney*. The 
first officers were Lewis Boclman, president, and William B. Hale, 
cashier. The institution was uniformly successful during its 
existence of a little more than a decade and in January, 1865, 
was reorganized and conxerted into the Conway National Bank 
with John D. Todd as first ]:)resident and Samuel Swan as first 
cashier. The career of the bank has been prosperous; it has 
always maintained a high position among its sister institutions 
of Western Massachusetts and has paid in dividends nearly 
$400,000. 

The following is a statement of the bank's condition, Jan- 
uary 1, 1917:— 

Loans and Discounts, 848,108.00 

U. S. Bonds to Secure Circulation, 50,000.00 

Bonds, Securities, etc., 47,538.13 

Banking House, 3,000.00 

Furniture and Fixtures, 1,000.00 

Due from Banks, 11,265.71 

Due from Federal Reserve Bank, 5,911.28 

Cash, 3,838.34 

Redemption Fund with U. S. Treasury,. . . 2,500.00 

Total $173,161.46 

Capital Stock, sS50,000.00 

Surplus Fund, 5,025.00 

Profit and Loss, 452.35 

Circulation, 50,000.00 

Deposits, 67,684.11 

Total, $173,161.46 

The presidents of the bank have been John D. Todd, 
E. Darwin Hamilton, Carlos Batchelder, and John B. Packard; 
cashiers, Samuel Swan, Edwin L. Munn, William D. Luey, 
William G. Avery, and Edwin T. Cook. The directors are 
A. P. Delabarre, John B. Packard, A. C. Guilford, Fred A. 
Delabarre, and Alvin C. Boice. 



126 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

An act of the Legislature approved by his Excellency Oliver 
Ames, March 10, 1887, constituted Richard Tucker, Edward 
Delabarre, Carlos Batchelder, John B. Packard, and William G. 
Avery a corporation by the name of the Conway Savings 
Bank and the institution was opened for business April 16, 1887. 
The growth of the bank has been healthy and continuous. At 
the end of its first year of existence the deposits were $31,318.91. 
At the present time the deposits are $455,000 with a guarantee 
fund and surplus of $27,000. The bank has paid 4 per cent 
interest on deposits annually. 

The present officers are: A. P. Delabarre, president; H. D. 
Pease and Allison Howes, vice-presidents; A. C. Guilford, 
treasurer; Max Antes, C. L. Boyden, Victor Bardwell, Charles 
Parsons, A. J. Patterson, C. L. Hassell, C. F. Elmer, and J. B. 
Packard, trustees. 




Congregational 
Baptist 



Catholic 
Methodist 



The Conway Churches. 



Chapter VI. 

THE CHURCHES. 

The Congregational Church. 
By Ri;v. Kdward L. Chute. 

Religious services were held within the limits of the town 
as early as 1767, but it was not until the following year that 
a church was organized. On July 14, 1768, thirty-two persons, 
sixteen men and sixteen women, signed the covenant and thus 
constituted the First Congregational Church of Conway. Pre- 
vious to the organization of the church, at an adjourned town 
meeting held at the house of Capt. Jonathan Whitney, a com- 
mittee was appointed to fix the center of the town, so that the 
meeting house would be convenient to the residents of the 
township. The committee reported that the place selected was 
"ye nole" about fifteen or twenty rods north of the southeast 
corner of the Center Street, and upon that spot the house was 
erected. 

The next thing was to choose a "Learned and Orthodox 
Minister." Rev. Mr. Strong was engaged to preach two months 
on probation, beginning the middle of April, 1768. For the 
convenience of those attending worship horse sheds were erected 
near Mr. Whitney's house, and the people continued to worship 
there, and at Nathaniel Field's and Joseph Catlin's until the 
meeting house was ready. In 1769 a committee was chosen 
to procure a settled minister. April 9 of the same year the 
Rev. John Emerson preached his first sermon in a barn in the 
southeastern part of the town on land belonging to Josiah 
Boyden. The previous Sunday Mr. Emerson had preached in 
the Brattle Street Church in Boston. In view of the circum- 
stances there was some truth in the dominie's remark that his 
sermon in Conway was "John preaching in the wilderness." 

Mr. Emerson, however, was far from being a self-seeker or 
a weakling. For fifty-six and one-half years he labored assidu- 
ously and faithfully. Perhaps no other name is more honored 
among the early inhabitants, certainly no other individual did 
more to build and make secure the educational, moral, and 



130 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

religious foundations of the growing settlement. An extract 
from Mr. Emerson's letter of acceptance written November 25, 
1769, shows his devout spirit as well as a glimpse of the native 
shrewdness for which he was noted : — 

"Notwithstanding by settling in this place I am under a 
necessity of subjecting myself to several peculiar difficulties, 
yet considering that the great Head of the church has, as I 
trust, inclined your hearts to give me so unanimous an invitation, 
and as there appears a hopeful prospect of usefulness, I hereby 
manifest my cheerful acceptation, not being insensible at the 
same time of my unworthiness of the honor as well as unfitness 
for the important work to which I am devoting myself. With 
respect to the outward support which you have offered me I 
indeed expected that in consequence of my being your first 
minister I should be entitled to an interest in the land which 
I understand was appropriated to that use, but which now it 
seems is a matter of some doubt. However, I presume I shall 
enjoy in addition to the settlement you have offered me, likewise 
my fire wood, an article which I look upon as necessary to my 
support. Though not specified in the contract, yet inasmuch 
as the committee informs me of your readiness to give it I shall 
depend upon you complying with the same." 

Mr. Emerson's ministry was richly blessed of God in respect 
to its effect upon the religious life of the people. During the 
last quarter of the eighteenth century the town grew steadily 
in population; the highest point was reached at about the 
year 1800 when the number was 2,000. It is worthy of notice 
that in 1789, Mr. Emerson received 121 new^ members into the 
church, 118 of them on profession of faith. Again in 1816 he 
welcomed 54 more. When he ended his care of the church in 
1821 the membership was nearly 300. In July, 1816, the town 
or society voted to grant a colleague to the pastor although 
they seem not to have carried out this purpose for the next 
five years. In June, 1821, Edward Hitchcock was ordained as 
colleague. Mr., afterwards Dr., Hitchcock remained four years 
and four months and then accepted the professorship of Chem- 
istry and Natural History in Amherst College. In 1844 he 
became president of the college, in which capacity he labored 
with distinguished success for the ensuing ten years. After 



THE CHURCHES. 131 

resigning the presidency he remained on the college faculty as 
lecturer in the. department of Geology and Natural Theology 
until his death in 1864. Dr. Hitchcock was one of the great 
men of his time, known and honored at home and abroad. 
Besides his professional duties he published more than twenty 
volumes on scientific and kindred subjects. He was a man of 
God, a friend of youth, and a pioneer and leader in the scien- 
tific advance of the nineteenth century. The succeeding pastors 
were: Daniel Crosby, 1827 to 1833; Melancton G. Wheeler, 
1834 to 1841; Samuel Harris, 1841 to 1851; George M. Adams, 
1851 to 1863; Elijah Cutler, 1863 to 1868; William A. Thomp- 
son, 1868 to 1872; Arthur Shirley, 1872 to 1881; Albert B. 
Christy, 1881 to 1884; WilHam A. Thomas, 1886 to 1888; 
Elias B. HiUard, 1889 to 1893; Caldwell Morrison, 1893 to 
1895; Eugene F. Hunt, 1895 to 1904; John T. Berry, 1904 to 
1906; Edward L. Chute, 1906 to 1916; F. A. Sanborn, 1916—. 
Referring to the list of pastors who have served this church 
during the century and a half of its existence attention is arrested 
by the name of Samuel Harris. Mr. Harris began his career 
as preacher and theologian in Conway, being ordained to the 
ministry here and serving this church in the pastorate from 
1841 to 1851. He resigned to take charge of the South Church 
of Pittsfield, IVIass. Afterwards he became professorof Theology 
at New Haven, Conn., and later president of Bowdoin College. 
Whether the sterling qualities of the people made the men or 
the exceptional men made the people cannot be determined. 
Perhaps both factors were employed. It is certainly true that 
the Conway church, at least during its earlier years, enjoyed 
the ministry of able men who were trained and de\eloped here 
to become distinguished in later years. 

Some reference to the work of the church for children seems 
appropriate. The long list of baptisms recorded during the first 
one hundred years shows that 1,633 children received this rite 
upon the faith of those who exercised parental care over them. 
For the first fifty years the church had no Sabbath School. July 
3, 1818, the school was organized by the following vote: "Voted, 
to choose a committee consisting of seven persons, four of the 
church and three of the congregation, to superintend said 
school, select catechists and jjrovide for its orderly and useful 



132 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

operation." Since that time the Sunday School has had a con- 
tinuous and useful history. During its one hundred and fifty 
years of life the church has received a large number of persons 
into its membership. It began with 32. At the end of fifty 
years 523 had been received. At the centennial year 956 more 
had been added; at the year 1900, 311 more. The whole 
number received from the beginning to the year 1917 was 1,860. 
On the other side of the account we find that at the end of its 
first century it had dismissed to other churches over 650 of 
its members, while more than 400 of its members had dropped 
into the grave here at home. The highest point in membership 
was reached in the decade between 1850 and 1860. The num- 
ber then rose to 334. Great fluctuations and inevitable de- 
crease in membership has been the experience of most rural 
churches during the past fifty years. This by no means spells 
failure. Numbers are not all. It is an inspiring thought that 
this church, in common with many others, has for more than 
a century been pouring its best blood into the currents of life 
the world over. It is no disparagement to other churches to say 
that the First Church of Conway has had a distinguished share 
in the fruitful work. Men and women in almost every walk of 
life, many of whom have gained distinction as merchants, bank- 
ers, lawyers, and teachers, are credited to this ancient church. 
Not the least of its ministry also has been found in the untitled 
and uncrowned children who have been trained here to virtue, 
honesty, and Christian faith and who are still sending forth these 
abiding qualities to the present and to the future generations. 

During all these years the church has been in touch with 
missionary and reform movements. It has always been a giving 
church. Though affected by the shrinkage of population and 
the changes which have depleted the number and value of the 
farms within the township it has stood and still stands for 
Christian fellowship and for the leadership of Jesus Christ in 
saving men and building up the kingdom of God. 

This sketch maV not improperly close with a brief description 
of the three houses of worship occupied by the church. (Many 
of the following facts are taken from a sermon by Charles B. 
Rice, D.D., preached at the dedication of the present building, 
December 16, 1885.) 



THK CHURCHES. 133 

The first of the buildings referred to was built in the summer 
and fall of 1769 a few months before the ordination of Rev. 
John Emerson, the first pastor. It was located on a spot 
deemed to be the exact center of the town, upon a slight elevation 
on which the South Center schoolhouse was afterwards placed. 
This point continued for more than seventy years to be the 
municipal center of the town and largely, also, its ecclesiastical 
and religious center — for the town and parish then were one. 
The town building committee of this meeting house consisted 
of Joseph Catlin, Nathaniel Field, Elias Dickinson, Jonathan 
Whitney, and Thomas French. 

The first town meeting held in this house was on the twenty- 
fifth of September, 1769. Religious meetings began to be held 
there at about the same time. After about twenty-five years 
the house was greatly enlarged and improved. It must be 
remembered, however, that these improvements were not for 
luxurious ends; for the building was never heated artificially 
and the pews or "slips" were rude and bare. But these were 
occupied. This was the period when the town had its largest 
population, and on a Sunday few if any vacant seats were found 
within this ancient temple. The final dimensions of the building 
were 100 feet by 60. There were doors at either end and also 
a principal door at the middle on the eastern side. From this 
eastern entrance the main aisle ran to the lofty pulpit on the 
west. The pews were square and aisles ran round the whole 
room, distant from the outer wall by the width of a single line 
of pews. This structure was no doubt well suited to the needs 
of the times in which it was built. 

It was judged necessary, however, at length to replace it 
with another. The question of location again came up. This 
was considered of vital importance and many and long were 
the discussions over the mooted point. By a large addition 
from Shelburne on the northwest the territorial center of the 
town had changed materially. Still the old site had its advan- 
tages through the associations which cluster around a sacred 
spot. 

After long deliberation a compromise was effected and 
finally upon the narrow edge of the ravine where the present 
house of worship, stands in the year 1841 the second meeting 



134 



HISTORY OF CONWAY 



house was erected. The building committee were Asa Rowland, 
Joseph Avery, Austin Rice, John Howland, and Gardner Dickin- 
son. 




Second Congregational Meeting House. 
Built 1841. Burned 1885. 



The size was 52 feet by 80 and the cost $7,000. There 
was a single shapely steeple at the eastern end within which 
the bell from the former house was put. The town contributed 
$500 toward the building and it had the use of the hall in the 
basement for its public meetings. It was dedicated August 31, 
1841, Rev. Samuel Harris, the pastor, preaching from the text 
in I. Cor. 1: 18. 



THE CHURCHES. 135 

This house was destroyed by fire February 27, 1885. Meas- 
ures were taken at once for another edifice. A builcHng com- 
mittee was appointed consisting of Carlos Batchelder, John B. 
Packard, Darwin Sanderson, Edwin Cooley, Jabez C. Newhall, 
and Addison Brown. Daniel Rice, a son of the town and of 
the church, and a workman also upon the former building, 
returned to direct the work of construction. The house was 
placed lipon the same spot as that occupied by the preceding 
structure and wlicn completed was regarded by all as "comely, 
commodious, and substantial." Many individuals and families 
contributed to the erection of this house and its furnishing. 
The Field brothers gave liberally to furnish the large room in 
the vestry. The family of General Whitney presented a pipe- 
organ. Fisher Ames and others gave a new bell and the young 
ladies of Mrs. Perry's school furnished the pulpit with a Bible. 
Many hands and hearts were united in the enterprise until 
the entire cost of $12,000 was provided for. The house was 
dedicated December 16, 1885, Rev. Charles B. Rice, a native 
of the town, preaching the sermon. 

Our story is told. Men and events change but God and 
truth abide. The things for which the church stands are vital 
to every community. The rural church is just now under 
special strain but at the same time it faces great opportunities. 
The character and achievements of the fathers who founded 
the town of Conway and its first Christian church permit the 
hope that their descendants will rise to the full measure of privi- 
lege and accomplishment in days to come. 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 
Bv Rev. Charles Stanley Pease. 

The history of the Baptist church and society in Conway 
begins with the year 1788. The church records open with the 
following: — 

"At a Conference Meeting of the Baptist order in Conway 
at the house of Mr. William Salisbury on Thursday the 4th of 
September, 1788. The meeting opened by singing and solemn 
prayer. 



136 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

"First, Made choice of Brother Shevi leader of the meeting. 
Second, Brother Enos Smith, scribe. Third, Proceeded to see 
how many of the brethren of Ashfield church, Hving in Conway, 
are for joining to build a church in Conway. They now being 
asked, brethren David Whitney, Caleb Rice, Elnathan Tobey, 
John Beal, gave their voices to build, and also brother Noah 
Tobey." Then follows an account of what seems to have been 
a prayer and conference meeting, during which other brethren 
made confession of faith and expressed the desire for membership 
in a Baptist church. 

A council was accordingly convened which met October 1, 
1788, at the house of William Salisbury, who lived in the 
southwest part of the town. There were present as delegates 
Elder Adam Hamilton and two brethren from the Westfield 
church and Elder Enos Smith and two delegates from the 
Ashfield church. Two days were spent in religious exercises. 
Elder Hamilton preached the first day from Prov. 14:32, and 
on the second day from Col. 3:17. Eight persons were then 
baptized by Elder Hamilton, "after satisfaction being given of 
their union to Christ by faith." On the third day of the council, 
viz., October 3, 1788, the church was formally organized, and 
the fact attested by Adam Hamilton, moderator, and Enos 
Smith, scribe. 

The following Sunday fourteen others were baptized by Elder 
Hamilton and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was admin- 
instered. On the 19th of the same month, seven more were 
baptized, and on the 18th of the following month, eleven others, 
making forty baptisms within a few weeks to encourage the 
new church. It is impossible to determine the exact number 
of the charter members, as no attempt was made in the records 
to distinguish between the early members and those subse- 
quently added by baptism and letter. By a strange oversight 
even the names of the eight who were the first to be baptized 
are unrecorded. 

The following are the names which are mentioned of those 
connected with the church during the year of its organization: — 

Noah Tobey, Ebenezer Tolman, 

Barzillah AUis, Solomon Hartwell, Jr., 

Amos Shevi. 



THE CHURCHES. 13? 

Received from Baptist church in Ashfield by letter: — 

EInathan Tobey, Caleb Rice, 

David Whitney, Deborah Tobey. 

Received by baptism, October 5: — ■ 

Samuel Allen, Seth Salisbury, 

William Salisbury, Ebenezer Thacher, 

Zac'cheus Tobey, Hannah Salisbury, 

Stephen Salisbury, Rhoda Salisbury, 

Joel Allis, Betty Tobey, 

Josiah Beal, Lewis, 

Asa Curtis, Sarah Hartwell. 

Received by baptism, October 19: — 

Zadock King, David Tobey, 

Abner Packard, Daniel Lewis, 

Joseph Tobey, Elizabeth Tobey, 

Sarah Tobey. 

Received by baptism, November 18: — 

Aaron Howe, Lydia Beal, 

Jason Harrington, Abigail Hartwell, 

Samuel Allen, Jr., Deborah Tobey, 

Calvin Keyes, Elizabeth Tobey, 

Isabel Hamilton, Ann Sadler, 

Jane Tobey. 

The church organized with the choice of W'ilHam SaHsbury 
as "scribe," but as he did not assume that ofhce Abner Packard 
became the first acting clerk of the church and performed the 
duties of the office for three years. EInathan Tobey and 
William Salisbury were chosen deacons, to which number Caleb 
Rice was soon afterw^ards added. Amos Shevi, one of the 
members of the church, was called to the office of pastor, but 
seems not to have been ordained and virtually became an 
occasional supply. The church was served by temporary sup- 
plies for a number of years. Among this number should be 
mentioned Rev. Josiah Goddard, a resident of the town, who 
as a member of the church rendered pastoral service as needed. 

Calvin Keyes seems to have been the first recognized pastor 
of the church. He was baptized November 18, 1788, and thus, 
as we have noted, was virtually one of the charter members. 
Having been invited on several occasions to "improve his gifts," 
he at length was called to the pastorate, and accepting the 
office was regularly ordained on November 7, 1799, as attested 



138 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



by Rev. Asa Todd of Whately, moderator, and Rev. Enos Smith 
of Ashfield, scribe. He evidently received much assistance in 
pulpit ministrations from neighboring and visiting clergymen, 
but continued to be the recognized pastor of the church for 
more than twenty years. He lived on his farm in the southwest 
part of the town, near the present Poland schoolhouse. During 
much of this time the church as a matter of principle withheld 
any fixed salary. Elder Keyes continued to reside in Conway 
and remained a member of the Baptist church till his death, 
September 16, 1843. Two extensive revivals occurred during 
his ministry, one in 1807-08 when fifty-six persons were added 
to the church by baptism, and another in 1816 when thirty-seven 
persons were baptized. He was connected with the church as 
pastor and layman for fully fifty years and served its interests 
with unselfish devotion. 

In 1818 a call was extended to Rev. David Pease of Belcher- 
towh to become the pastor with a stipulated salary of $250 a 
year. The call was accepted and from this time on the succes- 
sion of pastors becomes clearly indicated. The following is a 
list of pastors with length of service: — 



Rev. Calvin Keves, 1799-1818 

Rev. David Pease, 1818-1819 

Rev. Paul Himes, 1821-1822 

Rev. Calvin Keyes, 1824-1827 

Rev. David Pease, 1827-1831 

Rev. Cooley, 1832-1833 

Rev. Phineas Howe, 1834-1835 

Rev. Wm. H. Rice, 1835 

Rev. Foster Hartwell, 1838 

Rev. David Wright, 1840-1841 

Rev. Henry Rouse, 1841-1843 

Rev. Joel Kenney, 1844-1846 
Rev. Perley P. Sanderson, 1846-1847 

Rev. Richard Lentell, 1847-1848 

Rev. Chas. A. Buckbee, 1848-1851 

Rev. Martin Byrne, 1851-1853 

Rev. David Pease, 1854-1856 

Rev. Payson Tyler, 1857-1858 



Rev. A. J. Chaplin, 1858-1860 

Rev. C. F. Nicholson, 1861-1862 

Rev. Daniel Robinson, 1862-1863 

Rev. J. V. Lentell, 1863-1866 

Rev. J. J. Townsend, 1866-1868 

Rev. A. J. Chaplin, 1869-1874 

Rev. Dwight Ives, D.D., 1875-1876 

Rev. Alfred Colburn, 1876-1877 

Rev. Everett D. Stearns, 1877-1880 

Rev. H. R. Mitchell, 1880-1885 

Rev. F. S. Weston, 1885-1889 

Rev. J. P. Hunter, 1889-1890 

Rev. B. S. Morse, 1891-1892 

Rev. W. C. Whitaker, 1892-1896 

Rev. C. S. Pease, 1896-1903 

Rev. H. A. Calhoun, 1903-1904 

Rev. J. E. Dame, 1905-1909 

Rev. Edward Cooper, 1910-1914 



For some time after the church was organized, meetings 
were held in the house or barn of different members, evidently 
rotating from one section of the town to another as suited 
convenience. The people residing in the southwest part of the 
town met by themselves during winter by mutual agreement. 



THE CHURCHES 139 

Within a year, howexcr, of the (hue of organization, plans 
were under way for a meeting house. The distance was meas- 
ured to the extreme families and a central location was sought. 
As a wide difference of opinion made agreement difihcult a 
council was called with delegates from sister churches "to assist 
in choosing a si)ot for the meeting house." The site selected 
is described as "on ilie ccjunty road at the bend of the river." 
It was near where the Roman Catholic church now stands. 
A strip of land was purchased of Capt. Consider Arms three 
rods wide and twenty rods in length. Here a meeting house 
was erected 30 by 40 feet in dimensions. The burden of the 
work was curiously apportioned. One brother was to get out 
the heavy timber, another the "scantling," etc. The following 
vote was duly recorded: "Made choice of brother Ebenezer 
Redfield to provide lOd nails, and brother Prince Tobey to 
get the 4d nails." Benjamin Wheat was engaged as master 
workman. The work was begun May 26, 1790, and the building 
was evidently in use the following year, but probably was never 
really completed. It was seldom, if ever, used in winter, the 
records of meetings held during that season of the year being 
dated at various private houses. 

In 1810, for reasons not given, it was decided to change the 
location. A long string of oxen was attached to the building, 
and under the efficient direction of John Arms drew it 
bodily for a number of rods along the side hill to some point 
near the present residence of Mrs. Edward Delabarre where it 
was found necessary to take the building apart. From this 
point it was moved in sections and reconstructed on the site 
of the present building, which replaced it in 1840. The follow- 
ing list of pewholders is preserved under date of December 10, 
1812:— 

Dr. Moses Hayden, 
Jonathan Smith, 

Luther Newhall, 
Jason Harrington, 
Henry Huxford, 
Capt. D. Stearns, 
Wm. Redfield, 
Augustus Leonard, 
Caleb Sherman, 
John Arms, 



No. 


L 


Col. Rice, 


No. 


2. 


John Broadrick, 


No. 


3. 


Caleb Beal, 


No. 


4. 


Capt. Wrisley, 


No. 


5. 


Solomon Goodale 


No. 


6. 


Daniel Newhall, 


No. 


7. 


John Batchelder, 


No. 


8. 


George Stearns, 


No. 


10. 


. ohn Arms, 


No. 


11. 


3enjamin Tobey, 


No. 


12. 


Josiah Goddard, 



140 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



No. 13. 


Lieut. Nathaniel Goddard, 




No. 14. 


Barzillah Allis, 


Israel Rice, 


No. 15. 


Elisha Goddard, 




No. 16. 


. oel Bacon, 


Cornelius Dunham, 


No. 17. 


. onathan Whitney, 


Stephen Sanderson, 


No. 18. 


3r. Moses Hayden, 




No. 19. 


Amaziah Tobey, 




No. 20. 


Jonathan Bartlett, 


Aaron Hale, 


No. 21. 


Capt. William Stow, 




No. 22. 


Lieut. Caleb Beal, 


Benjamin Rice, Wm. Salisbury, 


No. 23. 


James Newhall, 


Rufus Harrington, 


No. 24. 


Ebenezer Redfield. 






Pews in the 


Gallery. 


No. 27. 


Silas Redfield, 


Dudley Redfield, 


No. 28. 


Ethan Billings, 




No. 29. 


Asa Allis, 


Joseph Wheelock, 


No. 30. 


Lieut. George Stearns, 


^enry Allis, 


No. 31. 


Benjamin Tobey, 


Caleb Sherman, 


No. 32. 


Jonathan Whitney, 


Abijah Stearns, 


No. 33. 


Jonathan Whitney, 


John Broadrick, 


No. 34. 


Capt. Wrisley, 


Capt. Wm. Stow, 


No. 35. 


Capt. Stearns, 


John Batchelder, 


No. 36. 


Daniel Newhall, 




No. 37. 


Amaziah Tobey, 




No. 38. 


Augustus Leonard, 


Timothy Goodale, 


No. 39. 


Aaron Hale, 


Jeduthan Bartlett, 


No. 40. 


Capt. Consider Amsden, 




No. 41. 


Capt. Consider Amsden, 




No. 42. 


. oseph Pulsifer, 




No. 45. 


i^leazer Flagg, 




No. 44. 


Samuel Hartwell, 




No. 45. 


Chauncey Goodrich, 




No. 46. 


Francis Hartwell, 




No. 47. 


Stephen Sanderson. 





It is interesting to note the array of military officers in this 
brief Hst, i. e., one colonel, four captains, and three lieutenants. 

The present edifice was built on a larger plan that the first, 
measuring 55 by 38 feet. The old-time high-backed pews with 
doors and the elevated pulpit have disappeared, and the building 
has been raised to make room for the vestry beneath the audi- 
torium, but the essential features of the meeting house remain 
as when built in 1840. The specifications and contract were 
signed July 25, 1840, by George Stearns, Jr., Thomas Dinsmore, 
Joseph Wheelock, and Charles B. Stearns as committee for the 
church, and by Alonzo Parker, contractor. Ihe building was 
to be completed within seven months from date, for which 
service Mr. Parker was to receive the old building and the sum 
of $2,000. 



THE CHURCHES. 141 

The parsonage was built in 1849. No record of that impor- 
tant acquisition is preserved except the deed of the land which 
was given by John Arms, under date of April 4, 1849, to 
George Stearns, Jr., T. Dinsmore, and H. Cole, as tru,stees of 
the Baptist society. The land was then the corner of Mr. Arms' 
property nearest the meeting house. In the summer of 1883 
water was brought to the house from a spring in Arms grove. In 
1914 extensive repairs were made on the parsonage, including an 
addition built on the north side of the house and a piazza sixty 
feet in length built on two sides of the house. 

For many years the meeting house had no bell. The first 
building had no steeple, but the second building was provided 
with a tall, graceful spire and spacious belfry. In 1868, largely 
through the generosity of Edward Delabarre, a large clear- 
toned bell was hung in place. It was rung for the first time 
on the third Sunday in August. 

In 1871, during the pastorate of Rev. A. J. Chaplin, extensive 
repairs were undertaken on all of the church property. The 
foundations of the meeting house were relaid and a furnace was 
provided. The pulpit was remodeled and refurnished. A bap- 
tistery was built. The edifice was repainted, the roof tinned, 
and the parsonage was reshingled. The total expense was 
$2,262.87. The sum was all raised within three years, prin- 
cipally through voluntary subscriptions. The membership of 
the church at this time was sixty-five. Further changes were 
made in 1884, when Rev. H. R. Mitchell was pastor. The 
entire building was raised five feet and the basement deepened, 
giving two vestries, a kitchen, and a coal room with nine feet 
ceiling beneath the audience room. During the years 1894-96 
$500 was expended in general repairs upon the meeting house 
and parsonage. This money came to the church as a legacy 
from Mrs. Delia R. Foster, who, though a brief resident of the 
town and not a member of the church, desired to express in 
this way her sympathy with the Baptist interests in Conway. 
In 1899, the sum of $200 having been left to the church by a 
devoted sister. Miss Martha Hassell, it was voted to renovate 
the larger vestry and make it a memorial room to perpetuate 
her memory. The old plaster was covered with a steel ceiling 
and the entire room was repainted. At the first annual meeting 



142 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

of the church held after the repairs were completed, the following 
resolutions were adopted by vote of the church and recorded 
in the minutes: — 

"Whereas, in God's loving providence, we have received a 
timely gift toward the renovation of our prayer-room and other 
church property, through the faithful and kindly thoughtfulness 
of our late beloved sister, Martha B. Hassell; and 

"Whereas, this last act of material helpfulness is only one 
of many generous expressions of years past of her true and 
fervent love to God and His church; and 

"Whereas, the gentle and holy influence of one so pure in 
heart was for long years a benediction to our work and to our 
workers; therefore, 

"Resolved, that the fragrance of this tender and sacred 
memory is breathed into our church life and work of to-day, 
and still lives in our hearts to bless and to sanctify, to strengthen, 
and to bind us more closely together; and 

"Resolved, that our renovated prayer-room, in its bright 
and cleanly dress, be made a memorial to her name; and that 
it be our sacred care to add to it, as we may be able, new features 
of attractiveness and beauty, that, as an expression of our love 
to God, it may be more and more a meet place to invoke the 
presence of His Holy Spirit." 

In 1902, the vestry and social rooms were wired for electric 
lights and in 1911 the small vestry was given a steel ceiling 
and otherwise renovated. 

This church, like many others in early days, was for years 
much exercised with cases of discipline. Three occur during 
the first year of its organization. In 1819, dissensions arose 
beyond the power of the local body to control, and the assistance 
of neighboring churches was invoked. We find this entry in 
the minutes under date of March 10, 1819: "Voted unanimously 
to send for a number of the neighboring Elders and delegates 
to give us counsel respecting our critical situation as a church, 
and how we shall proceed toward our delinquent brethren." 
This entry was followed by another under date of March 24, 1819, 
which we give in full because -of its important bearing upon 
what is evidently the most critical period of the history of the 



THE CHURCHES. 143 

church: "An ecclesiastical council convened by the request of 
the Baptist church in this place to give them such advice and 
counsel as shall be viewed proper by the council after hearing 
their statement of difficulties." Churches represented in council 
with list of delegates — Shelburne: Joel Jones, Simon Dewolf; 
Colerain: Elder George Witherall, Isaac Chapin, David Purinton; 
Le^'erett: Elder Montague, Kene Whitmore, Nathan Ripley; 
Belchertown: Elder Thomas Marshall, Isaace Robins, David 
Lyon. Deacon Hubbard being present was added to the 
council. The council made choice of Elder Marshall, moderator, 
and Elder Witherall, clerk. Prayer by the moderator. After 
hearing a statement of difticulties the council retired and formed 
the following result: — 

"Dear Brethren, after deliberate consultation we are unani- 
mously of the opinion that it is the duty of the church in this 
place to dissolve their visibility. And for those who can be 
agreed to form themselves into a church and select or form 
such articles and covenant, to which each member shall set their 
names, as shall be approved by a regular council who may be 
requested to assist in organizing them into a visible church. 

"By order and behalf of the council. 

"(Signed) Thomas Marsilvll, 
George Witherall." 

The church organization was accordingly dissolved and 
remained so until June 12, 1820, when acting upon the second 
recommendation of the council twelve men and thirteen women 
agreed upon certain articles of faith and a covenant which 
met the approval of a council again regularly convened. This 
council formally recognized the now organized church, and the 
moderator. Elder Montague of Leverett, extended to a repre- 
sentative of the church the hand of fellowship as attested by 
Rev. David Pease, clerk of the council. In 1842 the "Articles 
of Eaith" were revised, to which were added "Articles of Prac- 
tice" and "Rules of Discipline." A new church "Covenant" 
was also adopted which differs little from the one in use at 
the present da\-. The purpose of these statements concerning 
Christian faith and conduct was merely to summarize the 
teachings of the Bible upon these points. 



144 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

The early minutes were not kept with the order and exact- 
ness one could wish. Deacon Robert A. Coffin, who was elected 
clerk in 1850 and served in this capacity for twenty-six years, 
rendered an enduring service to the church by the system which 
he inaugurated in keeping the records. The following served 
as clerks of the church till the year of federation: Abner Packard, 
1788-91; Jason Harrington, 1791-1808; Benjamin Rice, Jr., 
1808-; Franklin Stowe, 1836-37; Foster Hartwell, 1837-39; 
Rufus Smith, 1839-44; Samuel Dinsmore, 1844^47; George 
Stearns, Jr., 1847-50; Robert A. Coffin, 1850-76; C. D. Ives, 
1876-89; R. G. Rice, 1889-1914. 

Owing to evident omissions in the early minutes it is impos- 
sible to ascertain the total number of members who have been 
connected with the church since its organization. More care, 
however, was taken in recording the baptisms as they occurred, 
and the total number of those who united with the church by 
this public confession of faith in Christ is probably six hundred 
and twenty. The most remarkable revival occurred in 1843, 
during the pastorate of Rev. Henry Rouse, when beginning with 
February 19 there were baptisms on almost every Sunday for 
several weeks. As there was at that time no baptistery in the 
church and the ordinance was accordingly administered in the 
river, the following entry in the minutes during that winter will 
be appreciated: "Visited our baptismal grave again, where Elder 
Rouse administered the ordinance of baptism to right willing 
converts amid ice and snow." The total number baptized by 
Elder Rouse during that winter and spring was fifty. During 
his pastorate of two years eighty-six were added to the church 
by baptism and letter. 

From the first there have been constant depletions in numbers 
through removals. Young people have grown up under the 
influence and training of the church only to remove to some 
other place for permanent residence. For this reason the 
membership has not varied greatly from year to year. It has 
received constant additions but has also suffered as constant 
depletions. Probably its largest membership was in 1851 when 
one hundred and fifty-five were enrolled. The church has given 
seven ordained ministers to the world: Rev. Josiah Goddard, 
Rev. Calvin Keyes, Rev. Foster Hartwell, Rev. Edmund H. 



THE CHURCHES. 145 

Smith, Rev. Horace Jenkins, D.D., Rev. Harrison Stearns, 
Rev. Wilbur F. Rice. 

Elder Goddard is the author of a book of hymns published 
in Conway in 1798. Elder Keyes, as above noted, was the 
regular pastor of the Conway Baptist Church twenty-two years, 
and an active worker in the church for over fifty years. Dr. 
Jenkins was born in Ashfield in 1832 but remov^ed to Conway 
when ten years of age. He studied in the public schools and 
received special instruction from Deacon Robert Coffin, a 
veteran teacher of Conway. He united with the Conway 
Baptist Church in 1849. He was appointed a missionary to 
China in 1859. He died in China in 1908. He was the author 
of several text-books in the Cliinese language and for twenty 
years was president of the Baptist Theological Seminary at 
Shaohsing. Rev. Wilbur F. Rice was baptized in Ashfield, 
Mass., whither his father removed when he was twelve years 
old; but he had been a member of the Sunday School in the 
Conway church, where his father, Franklin E. Rice, and his 
grandfather. Deacon Benjamin Rice, had been faithful members. 

The Sunday School department was organized in 1830 
through the efforts of the following committee chosen b\- the 
church for that purpose: Benjamin Rice, Abijah Stearns, 
Cyrus Alden, Foster Hartwell, Samuel Montague, and William 
Bacon. 

The early records of the church "Society," so called, or 
parish, have not been preserved and the date of its formation 
can only be conjectured. It is probable from all indications 
that the two forms of organization are co-extensive. When 
the church temporarily disbanded in 1819, the "Society" con- 
tinued its organization and held the property. Its annual 
business meeting has "been held on the first Monday in April, 
announced by a warrant posted at the door of the church. 
In April, 1914, the Baptist and Methodist people of Conway 
united in the formation of a Federated church holding their 
services in the Methodist house of worship. The same year 
the Baptist Church and "Society" together deeded all of their 
church property, both meeting house and parsonage, to the 
Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society. As the Baptists 
were no longer maintaining separate services there remained 



146 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

no further service for the parish society to render and it has 
practically ceased to exist. The articles of federation provided, 
however, for the individuality of each church in membership, 
missionary offerings, and in control of church property. The 
Baptists accordingly continue to hold an annual church meeting 
for the election of officers and the transaction of business relating 
to their separate denominational existence. The last public 
service held in the Baptist house of worship was on Easter 
Sunday, April 12, 1914, when the pastor. Rev. Edward Cooper, 
having resigned to facilitate the federation, preached an 
appropriate sermon. 

The Baptist meeting house was built in the plain but 
imposing style of early New England church architecture. Its 
white spire is the most conspicuous object in the village. A 
background of giant elms has added to its quiet dignity; and 
for more than a century the commanding elevation and 
pleasant neighborhood of which this church was the religious 
and social center has been known as "Baptist Hill." 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
By Rev. Charles Stanley Pease. 

The exact beginning of Methodism in Conway cannot be 
ascertained. It has been stated that the first sermon ever 
preached by a Methodist minister in this community was by 
the eccentric Lorenzo Dow about 1825. An extensive revival 
began with this sermon. Rev. Parmele Chamberlain is said to 
have preached about the same time and also Rev. Samuel 
Luckey. From an early class book it is learned that on the 
eighth of June, 1826, a Methodist class was organized in the 
South Part with Rev. Parmele Chamberlain, the preacher in 
charge, and Dwight Sanderson, class leader. There were eight 
members in this class. The next record shows that the class 
was reorganized in 1843 with fourteen members, Dwight Sander- 
son still leader. It was called the "Whately class." At Shirk- 
shire a class was formed in 1835 by Rev. William Gordon when 
he was stationed at Buckland. A. M. Field was the leader. 

But in the southwest and Poland districts the most system- 
atic work was done in those early years. In 1826 and 1827 the 
Rev. Josiah Hayden, who is spoken of as a "powerful exhorter," 



THE CHURCHES. 147 

in company with a local preacher by the name of Lewis, held 
meetings in the old Poland schoolhouse and at the house of 
Shubel .Bradford. A camp meeting was held in that neigh- 
borhood as early as 1831 under the direction of the Presiding 
Elder of the Springfield District, Rev. Orange Scott. These 
meetings resulted in a notable revival. A number of people 
in the Poland and Brier Hill districts identified themselves with 
the Methodist movement. A schoolhouse in that section was 
enlarged and a room fitted up for religious meetings. The 
building was used for many years both as a school and as a 
church. It was known as the "Chapel." A beautiful cascade 
in the mountain brook which runs by the site of the chapel has 
since been known as "Chapel Falls." This society was at first 
a part of the Northampton circuit, then for a time was included 
in a circuit with Worthington and Buckland. Rev. William 
Gordon, Rev. Windsor Ward, Rev. John Cad well, Rev. Philo 
Hawks, and other "circuit riders" supplied them with occasional 
preaching. In 1842 Rev. Orange Scott having identified himself 
with the anti-slavery movement and having lost hope of his 
own church becoming an anti-slavery power, withdrew from the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and with others organized the 
"Wesleyan Methodist Connection" of which body he became 
the first president. Many in the Chapel Society sympathized 
with their former leader in his anti-slavery sentiments and 
following his example withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal 
body. This division continued for some years and led to the 
extinction of the society in Poland. Preaching services at the 
chapel became infrequent and were discontinued about 1855. 

Meanwhile the center of Methodist activity had been trans- 
ferred to the village. In 1852 Rev. W. F. Lacount, then 
stationed at South Deerfield, was invited to Conway to hold a 
Methodist service in the hall over the store at Burkeville. A 
class was formed with Philip Lanigar as class leader. A 
Sunday School was also organized with thirty-nine members. 
The Presiding Elder, Rev. Charles Baker, often preached at 
these meetings. Pastors from South Deerfield and from Shel- 
burne Falls preached Sunday evenings. After a time the 
meetings were transferred to the old Burkeville schoolhouse on 
the hill just north and opposite the present Catholic church. 



148 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

In 1855 Rev. Thomas Marcy, then Presiding Elder of the 
Springfield District, organized a Quarterly Conference with 
Philip Lanigar, Joseph Town, David Hastings, and D. Houston 
as stewards. Alfred A. Presby was appointed exhorter and 
class leader. Mr. Presby was at this time working in the 
Burkeville mills but was an active Christian worker and a good 
speaker. He preached to the satisfaction and profit of the 
people both in the Burkeville schoolhouse and the church at 
Baptist Corners. He later became an ordained minister. In 
1858 or 1859 a small hall was fitted up over the schoolhouse 
as a place of worship and A. M. Field was placed in charge 
of the church. A little later the society was joined to the 
church at South Deerfield and one pastor preached at both 
places. Objections having been made to their use of the school- 
house, a room was fitted up in 1863 in the upper story of the 
brick house in Burkeville, which was occupied for a year, when 
the meetings were transferred to a hall rented of Samuel Bige- 
low on River Street. In 1868 Oliver Field built a hall specially 
for the use of Methodist meetings. This building was in the 
rear of his residence, near the village bridge. It was plain and 
roughly finished but served the purpose of a church for some 
time. 

A great impetus was given to the Methodist movement in 
1870 by a revival conducted by Mrs. Van Cott, an evangelist. 
A "praying band" from Shelburne Falls continued the meetings. 
The hall became too small to accommodate the attendants and 
steps were taken to perfect a permanent organization and to 
erect a suitable house of worship. Rev. William H. Cook was 
appointed a resident pastor in April, 1871, and the same month 
Dr. L. R. Thayer, Presiding Elder for the Springfield District, 
organized a Quarterly Conference. This official board was 
composed of the following members: Philip Lanigar, class 
leader; L. F. Brown, Sunday School superintendent; L. T. 
Brown, Philip Lanigar, E. L. Packard, stewards; Oliver Field, 
L. T. Brown, Philip Lanigar, R. M. Tucker, trustees. At the 
next Quarterly Conference, held July 6 of the same year, William 
Watson was added to the board of stewards and Richard Tucker, 
Franklin Pease, and Oliver Lawrence were added to the trustees. 
Subscriptions were started for a church building. Land was 



THE CHURCHES. 149 

bought where the Methodist church now stands and ground 
was broken in September. The corner stone was laid in October 
and the work of building was pushed rapidly so that the vestry- 
was used for worship on Sunday, December 18. The building 
committee were Richard Tucker, F'ranklin Pease, and L. T. 
Brown. John Sprague was the master workman. The com- 
pleted edifice was dedicated on March 6, 1872. The weather 
was extremely cold and the roads badly drifted, nevertheless 
the attendance was large and enthusiastic. The services were 
in charge of Dr. Thayer, the Presiding Elder. The sermon of 
dedication was preached by Rev. I. G. Bidwcll. Rev. Cieorge E. 
Reed, afterwards president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., 
preached in the evening. The cost of the building was about 
$9,000. 

When the church was dedicated there were thirty-six mem- 
bers in full standing. But during that month nineteen additions 
were received, making the total number of those who may be 
regarded as charter members of the present organization fifty- 
five. Their names follow: Mrs. Elizabeth Bannister, L. T. 
Brown, Mrs. Martha E. Brown, Varney Boyden, Henry Boyden, 
William Bidwell, Mrs. William Bidwell, Mrs. Fannie E. Bradford, 
Mrs. Hannah Carrier, Olin D. Clark, Daniel Clark, Mrs. Laura 
Clark, Wilbur F. Clark, Mrs. Lucy A. Clark, Mrs. Jane Deverall, 
Miss Josephine Deverall, Mrs. Laura Dickinson, Oliver C. Field, 
Mrs. PZlccta S. Field, Miss Hattie Flagg, Lewis Franklin, Mrs. 
Sarah L. Franklin, George W. Irvine, Mrs. Maria Irvine, Philip 
Lanigar, Alvin Lawrence, Mrs. Maria Lawrence, Sarah Merri- 
field, Mrs. Martha May, Charles D. Naylor, Mrs. Effie Naylor, 
E. L. Packard, Mrs. Melvina Packard, Mrs. Lucinda Peck, 
T. J. Shepardson, Mrs. Desire Shepardson, Dwight Sanderson, 
Mrs. Priscilla Sanderson, William Stowe, Mrs. Lydia Stowe, 
Richard Tucker, Mrs. Delia R. Tucker, Richard M. Tucker, 
Mrs. Julia A. Tucker, John Tucker, Mrs. Harriet Tucker, 
Miss Eliza Tucker, Miss Eva Tucker, William Watson, Mrs. 
Maria Watson, Daniel Watson, Daniel Walker, Mrs. Carrie 
Walker, Austin Wells, and Mrs. Sarah Wells. 

Rev. A. C. Manson succeeded Rev. Mr. Cook in April, 1872, 
and the work prospered under him for two years. Thirty were 
added to the church. The next pastor was Rev. James A. De 



ISO HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Forest, who began his labors in April, 1874. That year is one 
of the sad memories in many of the families of Conway. An 
epidemic of diphtheria spread through the town. Mr. De Forest 
was very attentive to the sick and officiated at many funerals 
of those who died of this disease. Two of his own children died, 
and a few days later the father and beloved pastor, exhausted 
with watching and sorrow, succumbed to the same disease. He 
died November 28, 1874, at the age of thirty-eight. He was 
buried beside his children in the Howland Cemetery in Conway. 
Mr. De Forest was a graduate of the Theological School of the 
Boston University and had served in the ministry seven years 
when he came to the Conway charge. He was sincerely loved 
by his people and his untimely death was felt to be a loss to 
the entire community. 

During the years following the building of the house of 
worship the prosperity of the church was very marked. It now 
had a spacious auditorium and convenient rooms for Sunday 
School and social purposes. During the pastorate of Rev. I. A. 
Mesler, 1877-79, a bell costing S296 was hung in the belfry. 
A parsonage was purchased in April, 1885, and first occupied 
as such by Rev. George H. Clark. The fifteenth anniversary 
of the church was celebrated with special exercises on Sunday 
and Monday, March 6 and 7, 1887. The historical address 
given by Rev. Mr. Clark on that occasion has been used freely 
in this sketch. In the course of time repairs on the church 
property became necessary. During the years 1890 and 1891 
the interior of the church was repainted and frescoed, the 
auditorium was carpeted, and a new chandelier hung, costing 
altogether with other minor repairs about $700. In 1902 the 
church building was wired for electric lights and repainted on 
the outside. 

The church has been served by de\'oted pastors. For many 
years it was customary to hold schoolhouse meetings at frequent 
intervals in all of the outlying neighborhoods. Many gracious 
revivals have been enjoyed. Shortly before Mr. Clark came 
to the Conway charge the Congregational people lost their meet- 
ing house by fire and their pastor having resigned, they worshiped 
with the Methodists during the first eight months of Mr. Clark's 
pastorate. The records at this time mention congregations of 



THE CHURCHES. 151 

250 to 300 people. During this period Mr. Clark was virtually 
pastor of the two churches. The largest membership in the 
history of the church was one hundred and twenty, reported 
by Rev. George Sanderson in 1888. In this connection tribute 
should be paid to the long and faithful service rendered by 
Philip Lanigar as class leader. He was appointed to this 
position when the Methodists first organized at Burkeville in 
1852 and was reappointed when the church was reorganized 
with a resident pastor in 1871. He continued in this office 
until his death, July 14, 1894. Many of the present members 
remember with gratitude his earnest words of Christian exhorta- 
tion. Following is a list of the resident pastors beginning with 
the building of the house of worship: — 

R€v. W. H. Cook, 
Rev. A. C. Manson, 
Rev. J. A. De Forest, 
Rev. E. R. Thorndike, 
Rev. W. N. Richardson, 
Rev. I. A. Mesler, 
Rev. Henry Matthews, 
Rev. J. W. F"iilton, 
Rev. George W. Clark, 
Rev. George E. Sanderson, 
Rev. William S. Jagger, 

The Sunday School reached a high degree of efficiency under 
the leadership of the following superintendents: L. T. Brown, 
Chelsea Cook, W. F. Clark, Richard H. Cook, Charles L. Cook, 
and Mrs. James Robertson. 

Of the young people born in C\)nwa\- and reared in Methodist 
families four became Methodist ministers, viz.. Rev. Chester 
Field, Rev. I. B. Bigelow, Rev. Alvin Billings, Rev. Henry 
Bannister, D.D. Dr. Bannister was professor of Theology 
for twenty-six years in the Garrett Biblical Institute, Evans- 
Ion, 111. 

We are unable to give a complete list of the official members 
but special mention should be made of at least three. Richard 
Tucker was the chairman of the building committee of whom 
the church records say that "he rendered assistance which 
cannot be too highly estimated." He was made a member of 
the Quarterly Conference of the reorganized church in 1871 and 
remained an official member of the church until his death, 



1871-72 


Rev. J. A. Day, 


1893-96 


1872-74 


Rev. J. P. West, 


1896-97 


187-1 


Rev. Albert Beal, 


1897-99 


1875-76 


Rev. E. V. Hinchliffe, 


1899-02 


1876-77 


Rev. W. J. Kelley, 


1902-05 


1877-79 
1879-82 


Rev. A. S. Gregg, 1 
Rev. C. H. Hanaford,/ 


1905-06 


1882-85 


Rev. Wilbur T. Hale, 


1906-09 


1885-88 


Rev. C. W. Comstock, 


1909-10 


1888-91 


Mr. J. C. Hayes, 


1910-11 


1891-93 


Mr. A. H. Miles, 


1911-12 



152 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

November 30, 1889. Franklin Pease was made a trustee with 
Mr. Tucker in 1871 and also remained a member of the ofificial 
board during life. He came into the full membership of the 
church October 14, 1874, and to the day of his death, April 5, 
1903, was loved and honored by all who knew him. His busi- 
ness judgment and his moral and financial support made him 
a tower of strength to the church. Chelsea Cook united with 
the church by letter February 2, 1873. He had already been 
elected a trustee and now became a steward. These offices 
as well as appointments on all important committees of the 
church were held by him until his death March 8, 1905. There 
were many other devoted and self-sacrificing official members 
whose hearty co-operation made possible the prosperity of the 
church. But these three seem to be in a class by themselves. 
The passing years have only made it more apparent how irrepa- 
rable was their loss to the church. 

Following the death of Chelsea Cook business depression 
in the town caused the removal of several Methodist families 
and in other ways weakened the financial strength of the church. 
For years bright and promising young people trained in the 
church to Christian service went away to seek larger oppor- 
tunities, leaving the home church to suffer for the lack of their 
assistance. Want of recruits to make good the loss through 
deaths and removals proved at length so serious that in 1912 
the Quarterly Conference requested that no pastor be sent to 
them. For two years no services were held, and the church 
was practically extinct. Then an arrangement was made with 
the Baptists to unite in the support of a Federated church. 

THE FEDERATED CHURCH. 
By Prof. Alvah J. Norman. 
To properly understand the reasons for this federation it is 
necessary to know something of the previous condition of the 
two churches entering into it. With the vote of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church to close its doors at the end of the Conference 
year in April, 1912, there ended for them a period of almost 
hopeless endeavor to maintain regular public worship. This 
condition was due largely to the death of, and the moving 
away from town of, loyal self-sacrificing members until not 



THE CHURCHES. 153 

enough were left to maintain an efficient service. With the 
closing of the Methodist church came a pronounced change in 
the reHgious situation in the village. The Baptist and Congrega- 
tional people each hoped that the Methodist membership would 
affiliate more or less closely with their church. Yet few, if 
any, of the Methodists united with either of the other churches 
and as the months passed it became evident that only a very 
limited number were taking an active interest in church work. 
No one questions the motives or the reasons for this condition 
but it became a matter of grave importance not only to those 
who had the religious welfare of the community at heart locally, 
but to denominational officials as well. 

Meanwhile the situation at the Baptist church was far from 
encouraging. Services in winter months were held in the vestry 
largely because it was impossible to heat the upper room. 
Attendance was small and financial support was inadequate for 
efficient service. A number of conferences were held with 
Rev. W. E. Waterbury, Field Secretary of the Massachusetts 
Baptist Missionary Society, and the only hopeful outlook 
pointed toward a federation with the Methodist church. An 
informal conference w^is held between Secretary Waterbury and 
Dr. J. P. Kennedy, Superintendent of the Springfield District 
of Methodist churches, and when it was known that both of 
these denominational leaders favored a federation the matter 
began to be considered seriously by all concerned. Much credit 
is due the last pastor of the Methodist church, Rev. A. H. Miles, 
who, continuing to reside for a time in Conway, gave moral 
support and personal effort to the federation of the Methodists 
with the Baptists. The personal relationships and friendships 
existing between the members of these two churches was a very 
hopeful factor in bringing about a federation. On Sunday, 
January 11, 1914, Rev. PZdward Cooper, pastor of the Baptist 
church, recognizing that the federation movement could not be 
launched successfully without all parties fully understanding 
that the new organization would have a free hand in choosing 
a pastor, resigned his pastorate. The resignation was to take 
effect in three months. On January 27, 1914, the Baptist 
church held a business meeting and appointed a committee 
consisting of Alvah J. Norman, Z. B. Kemp, and R. G. Rice 



154 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

with instructions to meet a like committee from the Methodist 
church for the purpose of forming, if possible, a plan of federa- 
tion, said plan to be reported back to a meeting of the church 
for action thereon. The Methodist people without official 
action requested Edwin T. Cook, William M. Hall, and William 
Forsythe to represent them. This joint committee met at the 
bank Friday afternoon, February 13, 1914, with all members 
present except Mr. Forsythe. Mr. Norman was made chairman. 
After much careful consideration a plan was agreed upon which 
in forni was a tentative constitution and by-laws of the con- 
templated church. The constitution and by-laws were later 
revised in joint conference of the churches with Dr. Kennedy 
and Secretary Waterbury advising. Both churches accepted its 
provisions. The first three articles indicate the distinctive form 
of the organization: (1) Name — This church shall be called the 
Federated Church of Conway. (2) Members — Present mem- 
bers of the Baptist and Methodist Episcopal churches shall be 
members of the Federated Church, also members of other 
evangelical churches may become Charter Members of the 
Federated Church by enrolling or signifying to the clerk a wish 
to become a member. Members of evangelical churches may 
be admitted by letter according to prevailing custom. Persons 
wishing to unite with the church by baptism shall be free to 
follow their individual convictions as to mode of administration. 
The pastor of the church may, if he chooses, secure the services 
of a neighboring clergyman to administer the ordinance in the 
form desired by the candidate. Letters of dismissal from 
either church may be granted to members in good standing 
upon their request. (3) Denominational Individuality — Each 
of the churches entering this federation shall maintain its own 
organization. Each denomination shall retain control of its 
property of whatever kind. Each individual may contribute 
to the missionary and benevolent work of the denomination 
with which he or she is now affiliated. Either church desiring 
to discontinue the federation may do so by giving a six months' 
notice of the same in writing. 

The first public service of the united churches was held in 
the Methodist meeting house on Sunday, April 19, 1914. The 
pulpit was supplied by Rev. Horace A. Sibley of East Northfield 



THE CHURCHES. 155 

Mass. 0ther clergymen supplied the church with preaching 
during the summer until September 1st, when Rev. Charles 
Stanley Pease, a former pastor of the Baptist church, became 
the pastor of the Federated Church. The Baptist parsonage 
was enlarged and thoroughly repaired for his use. The Meth- 
odist meeting house, being more centrally located than the 
Baptist and in better repair, was used as the house of worship. 
The Federated Church was regularly organized at a specially 
appointed business meeting, April 29, 1914, when the following 
officers and committees were elected: Clerk, Mrs. Perkins 
Batchelder; treasurer, Edwin T. Cook; deacon, Willi^mi For- 
sythe;. chairman of finance committee, Z. B. Kemp; chief 
usher, W. M. Hall; chairman of missionary committee. Miss 
Anna Hopkins; music committee, Mrs. E. T. C^ook, Mrs. A. J. 
Norman, Mrs. \V. M. Hall; executive committee, Alvah J. 
Norman, chairman, Mrs. Perkins Batchelder, E. T. Cook, 
Z. B. Kemp, and \\\ M. Hall. 

SAINT MARK'S CHURCH. 

By Rev. P. H. Gallen. 

St. Mark's Catholic Church of Conway has always been a 
mission church, the congregation never having been numerous 
enough to support a resident priest. Until 1883 Conway 
formed part of the parish of Greenfield. The first recorded 
Catholic service in Conway was in 1845. The first mass was 
said in a schoolhouse by Rev. H. L. Robinson, a convert to 
the faith, and the pastor of Greenfield. The church was built 
in 1879 by Rev. Jeremiah McCarthy. He was succeeded in 

1880 by Rev. T. E. Smith. Rev. D. E. O'Neil took charge in 

1881 and Rev. M. E. Purcell in 1882. 

In 1883 Conway was attached to Sheli)urne Falls of which 
Rev. John Lee was pastor. He was succeeded by the following 
pastors of Shelburne Falls, who said mass in Conway twice a 
month: Revs. A. Legnier, 1885-87, Rev. J. H. Jeannotte to 
1891, Rev. J. E. AUord to 1893, Rev. J. Balthasard to 1899. 

In January, 1899, Conway became a mission of ^outh Deer- 
field and was placed in charge of Rev. A. O'Grady. Mass 
has been celebrated everv Sundav and Holvdav since. Rev. A. 



156 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

O'Grady was succeeded in April, 1902, by Rev. W. C. Mc- 
Caughan. In April, 1904, Rev. W. Hartigan became pastor. 
In 1908 Rev. P. F. Doyle came to assist Rev. W. Hartigan and 
remained until January, 1910, when Rev. J. F. McGrath replaced 
him. In June, 1910, Rev. P. H. Gallen, the present pastor, 
succeeded Rev. W. Hartigan. Rev. J. F. McGrath was trans- 
ferred in April, 1914, since which time Rev. F. C. Burnes has 
been assistant. The mission of Conway has about one hundred 
and forty souls. 



Ministers born in Conway. 

Congregational. — William F. Avery, Joel Baker, Elisha 
Billings, Richard S. Billings, Olin Clark, Abel B. Clary, Dexter 
Clary, Stolham Clary, David Dickinson, Harrison G. O. Dwight, 
D.D. (missionary), Samuel M. Emerson, Samuel Fisher, William 
Fisher, Sylvester Hover, John A. Nash, Augustine Root, 
Edward W. Root, Charles B. Rice, D.D., Joseph K. W^are, 
Samuel Ware, William Ware, Charles H. W' heeler. 

Baptist. — Josiah Goddard, Foster Hartwell, Calvin Keyes, 
Horace Jenkins, D.D. (missionary), Edward H. Smith, Harrison 
Stearns, Wilbur F. Rice. 

Methodist. — Henry Bannister, D.D., Alvin Billings, Increase 
R. Bigelow, Chester Fields. 

Episcopal. — John Avery. 

Unitarian. — Luther Hamilton. 

Universalist. — Otis W. Bacon, W^ W^ilcox. 

Roman Catholic. — George Dacey. 

Ministers' Wives born in Conway. 
Sabra Adams married Rev. H. H. Benson, Pres.; Harriet 
Arms married Rev. Charles E. Sylvester, Cong.; Julia Arms 
married Rev. Dwight Ives, Bapt.; Martha Arms married 
Rev. Horatio N. Graves, Cong.; Mary Avery married Rev. 
R. M. Loughridge, Cong:; Paulina Avery married Rev. Oscar L. 
Woodford, Cong.; Martha Baker married Rev. W'illiam Car- 
ruthers, Cong.; Alma Bartlett married Rev. W. Wilcox, Univ.; 
Abby Billings married Rev. Mr. Young, Cong.; Elizabeth 
Billings married Rev. Hiram Mead, Cong.; Jerusha Billings 



THK CHURCHES. 157 

married Rev. Bela Edwards, Cong.; Louisa Billings married 
Rev. Ezekiel Russell, Cong.; Mary Billings married Rev. Ogden 
Dwight, Cong.; Elizabeth Childs married Rev. H. D. Perry, 
Cong.; Abby Clark married Rev. Jared Stone, Cong.; Elizabeth 
Clark married Rev. Mr. Thompson, Cong.; Hannah Clark 
married Rev. Gideon Dana, Cong.; Mary Clark married Rev. 
J. A. Nash, Cong.; Mary Clark married Rev. Mr. Rossiter, 
Cong.; Ada C. Coffin married Rev. A. J. Chaplin, Bapt.; Julia 
Cooley rnarried Rev. Thomas S. Norton, Cong.; Louisa Dunham 
married Rev. Lucien Farnham, Cong.; Olivia Dunham married 
Rev. Romulus Barnes, Cong.; Mary Emerson married Rev. 
Royal Reed, Cong.; Sabra Emerson married Rev. Joseph Field, 
Unit.; Sophronia Hall married Rev. L R. Bigelow, Meth.; 
Lucy Harris married Rev. Edwin P. Parker, Cong.; Emily 
Meekins married Rev. William Arms, Cong.; Minerva Nash 
married Rev. Henry Eastman, Cong.; Armenia Pulsifer married 
Rev. Samuel Skinner, Univ.; Elizabeth Rice married Rev. 
Walter Twing, Cong.; Florence Stearns married Rev. Arthur E. 
Hartwell, Cong.; Mary Stearns married Rev. Mr. Frary, Bapt.; 
Achsah Stowe married Rev. James M. Coley, Bapt.; Lottie 
Walker married Rev. Fred Stray, Cong. Bethiah Ware married 
Rev. Moses Miller, Cong.; Elizabeth Ware married Rev. Theoph- 
ilus Packard, Cong.; Sally Ware married Rev. William Bonney, 
Cong.; Maria Wheelock married Rev. Foster Hartwell, Bapt.; 
Elizabeth Tobey married Rev. Josiah Goddard, Bapt. 



Chapter VII. 
THE SCHOOLS. 

Written in part by Rev. W. F. Avery, and completed by the Editor, 
assisted by miss florence howland. 

The Great and General Court of Massachusetts in granting 
leave to proprietors to settle in the various townships made 
it invariably a condition that they should within three years 
build a meeting house and schoolhouse, settle a learned Orthodox 
minister, and that they should constantly maintain and duly 
support a minister and schoolmaster among them. Conway, 
like the other towns in New England, has ever regarded the 
education of youth as of primary importance, and has from its 
incorporation provided quite liberally for educational purposes. 
The first law, establishing public schools in America, was passed 
by the General Court of Massachusetts on the 27th of October, 
1647. The following is a copy of the preamble: "It being one 
of the chief projects of Satan to keep men from the knowledge 
of the Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in unknown 
tongues, so in these latter times, by persuading from the use 
of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of the 
original might be clouded and corrupted by false glosses of 
deceivers; to the end that learning may not be buried in the 
graves of our forefathers, in church and Commonwealth; the 
Lord assisting our endeavors: — It is therefore ordered by the 
Court, and authority thereof, that every township within this 
jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of 
fifty householders, shall forthwith appoint one within their towns 
to teach all such children, as shall resort to him, to write and 
read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters 
of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of 
supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials 
of the town shall appoint; provided that these who send their 
children be not oppressed by paying more than they can have 
them taught for in other towns." 

This was the origin of our common school system, which has 
contributed in a large degree to the prosperity and glory of New 



THE SCHOOLS. 159 

England, by rearing up a class of men fitted for all the active 
duties of life, not only within its own jurisdiction, but through- 
out the United States. 

Shortly after the incorporation of (\)nwa\', the voters gave 
their attention to the subject of education by a vote which se- 
lected a committee for the purpose of hiring a "school dame" 
for five months that year. The sum of seven pounds was ap- 
propriated in 1767. In 1770 it was voted in town meeting to 
engage a singing master two months in the winter. The follow- 
ing year the town voted to raise the sum of ten pounds to be 
laid out in schooling and that the selectmen shall be a committee 
to proportion said sum in divers parts of the town, where they 
shall think proper. In 1772 it was voted to raise twelve pounds 
for the use of schooling and that the same shall be proportioned 
in manner and form as it w^as last year by the selectmen. It 
was voted to have three months' schooling that winter, two 
months the school shall be kept at Capt. Jonathan Whitney's 
and one month at Capt. Lucius Allis' house. School was taught 
for several years in private houses, a favorite place being the 
Whitney residence. In December the assessors were instructed 
by vote of the town to raise the sum of six pounds to pay the 
present school. 

In 1773 it was voted to build a schoolhouse as near the meet- 
ing house as the ground will admit and that the dimensions of 
said house shall be as follows, viz.: twenty-five feet in length 
and twenty-two feet in breadth; and that Jonathan Whitney, 
Elias Dickinson, and Alexander Oliver be a committee to build 
said house. A century elm tree was in 1867 planted upon the 
exact spot supposed to have been occupied by this primitive 
institution. It was also voted to have six months' schooling 
the present year. Two months of said schooling shall be kept 
in the center of the town, and the other four months to be divided 
in the extreme parts of the town by the selectmen where they 
shall think proper. 

For thie year 1774, the town voted to allow thirty pounds to 
be laid out in schooling in the following manner, viz.: one third 
to be kept at the house of Samuel Hooker, one third at the school- 
house, and one third at the house of Deacon Allis. Israel Gates, 
Jonas Rice, and Daniel Parker were chosen a new committee 



160 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

mittee to finish the schoolhouse. In 1775 the voters were en- 
grossed with the matters relating to the Revolutionary War and 
at the town meeting in March it was voted not to raise any 
money for schooling the ensuing year. 

After a lapse of a year, during which no school was opened in 
the town, it was voted in 1776 to have a public school, and to 
divide the town into five equal parts or squadrons. There was 
but one public schoolhouse — the one at the center — until 1783, 
after which temples of learning began to multiply to meet the 
demands of a rapidly increasing population. 

Reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic were the subjects 
set before the scholars of those days, although about 1791 a 
town vote decided that Latin and Greek should be taught. The 
absurdity of this remarkable effort to leap at a single bound 
from the rudiments of English into the classics presented itself, 
however, without much delay and the vote was hastily rescinded. 

Who was the first school-teacher is not known, but one of the 
early ones, known as Master Cole, is preserved in tradition as a 
singular pedagogue. It is told of him that when he came over 
from England he brought not only his military manners, — for 
he was a soldier there, — but his uniform and his sword, and 
these he used to wear each morning to school; where arriving, 
he would awe his scholars into trembling submission by his 
fierce dignity and military discipline. 

In March, 1777, it was voted to appropriate thirty pounds to 
be divided as heretofore for school purposes. The following 
year it was proposed by the voters that the children of both 
sexes be numbered and taken from five years old to thirty-one, 
and that each draw his proportion of money that the town shall 
raise for schooling the present year; and that each squadron, 
when squadroned out, shall be obliged to lay out its propor- 
tionable part of money aforesaid within said year, provided 
each man have liberty to send his children to what squadron he 
please; provided also that no man shall send to more than one 
squadron. This resolution was acted upon and it was voted to 
proceed to the above projects with regard to schooling the en- 
suing year. Eighty pounds was appropriated for the use of the 
school this year. A committee of seven, consisting of Noah 
Look, Israel Rice, Israel Gates, Noah Belding, Oliver Wetmore, 



THE SCHOOLS. 



161 



Lucius Allis, and Robert Hamilton, were selected to squadron 
out the town for schooling and take the number of children 
according to the proposals aforesaid. Each of the squadrons 
was empowered to select its own master. 

As the town continued to increase in population the school 
districts were increased in number until at one time there were 
sixteen schoolhouses, located as follows: Pumpkin Hollow, 
Center, Burkeville, Poland, South West, Guinea, Cricket Hill, 
Hardscrabble, South Part, Boyden, Hoosac, Broomshire, 




The Burkeville School. 



Harding, North Shirkshire, South Shirkshire, and Franklin. 
With the adoption of a graded school system leading up to the 
high school, the schoolhouse at Pumpkin Hollow, which had 
been built on the first site of the Congregational church, was 
used exclusively for the grammar grade. In 1902 a modern 
four-room building adapted to the work of all grades under the 
high school, was erected at Burkeville. One by one the out- 
lying districts have ceased to maintain separate schools until 
now only five of these schoolhouses are in use, viz.: at Broom- 
shire, Boyden, South Part, Poland, and South Shirkshire. The 
aggregate attendance of these five schools in 1916 was seventy- 
four. The total enrollment of all pupils below the high school 
was one hundred and ninety-seven. 



162 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

In 1888 the state passed a law permitting two or more towns 
to unite for the employment of a superintendent of their schools. 
Conway was one of the first towns in the state to avail itself of 
the provisions of this law. It united at once with Williams- 
burg, Whately, and Sunderland. They obtained for their first 
superintendent, in 1889, Hon. Justus Dartt, formerly state 
superintendent of schools in Vermont. The plan has resulted 
in great benefit to the schools of the town. The present district 
for the employment of a superintendent is composed of Conw^ay, 
Deerfield, Whately, and Sunderland. 

HIGHER EDUCATION. 

The people of Conway have always cherished high educa- 
tional ideals. As we have seen, Greek and Latin were once 
proposed for the district school curriculum. Without however 
going to this absurd extreme, young men were encouraged to 
continue their studies and in many cases to enter college. An 
old catalogue of Westfield Academy gives the names of si.x young 
men from Conway enrolled in 1813. They were Henry Clary, 
Solomon Farnum, Nathaniel Goddard, Luther Hamilton, Pliny 
Merritt, and Austin Rice. When Amherst College was founded 
in 1821 Conway citizens contributed two thousand four hundred 
and twenty-five dollars. Elisha Billings, himself a graduate of 
Yale before coming to Conway, served as trustee of Amherst from 
1821 to 1825. George Howland served as trustee from 1879 to 
1888 and Walter Howland, Esq., served as trustee from 1895 to 
1905 and as treasurer of the college from 1903 to 1908. Conway 
has been represented at Amherst by the following graduates: 
John A. Nash and Joseph K. Ware in the class of 1824; Lincoln 
Clark, 1825; Henry W. Billings, 1834; Daniel Rice, 1837; 
William W. Howland, 1841; William Howland, 1846; Richard 
S. BilHngs, 1847; William F. Avery and George Howland, 1850; 
John Avery, 1861; Walter M. Howland, 1863; Francis A. Clary, 
1864; John Howland, 1876; Edmund B. Delabarre, 1886; Frank 
A. Delabarre, 1890; Everett M. Delabarre, 1906. 

When Mount Holyoke Seminary was chartered in 1836 
Conway people contributed one thousand four hundred and five 
dollars. Joseph Avery served as trustee from 1836 until his 
death in 1855 and Austin Rice served as trustee from 1858 until 



THE SCHOOLS. 163 

his death in 1880. Mrs. EHzabeth Mead, president from 1890 to 
1900, was born in Conway, the daughter of Col. Charles Billings. 
Mrs. Mead was the last president of the Seminary and the first 
president of the college. The following graduates are from 
Conway: Caroline Avery and Lois W. Rice of the class of 1845; 
Paulina Avery, 1850; Clara L. Dickinson, 1855; M. Elizabeth 
Childs, 1856; Susan M. CUxry, 1863; Sarah G. Clark and Myra 
M. Jenkins, 1864; May E. Field, 1905; Harriet E. Totman, 
1914; C. Pauline Sikes, 1915; Dorothy W. Pease of the class of 
1918 is taking the full course. The following have taken special 
or partial courses: Elmira Barr, Mary Avery, Harriet Arms, 
Mary Bates, Caroline Dickinson, Phebe Allen, Mary Batchclder, 
Elizabeth Howland, Charlotte Rice, Martha Clary, Susan 
Tilton, Aurora Clark, Harriet Godfrey, Fannie Barber, Mary 
Fiske, Fannie Stearns, Sarah Page, Alice Aldrich, Elizabeth 
Perry, Clara Dickinson, Mary Billings, Anna Newhall, Lenora 
Dill, and Sylvia Parsons. Five of the above, including Presi- 
dent Mead, have been members of the faculty. Paulina Avery 
taught 1852-53; M. Elizabeth Childs, 1859-70; Susan M. Clary, 
1863-77, and Myra M. Jenkins, 1864-66. 

Records, gathered more or less at random and necessarily in- 
complete, show that the following young people graduated from 
colleges other than Amherst and Mount Holyoke: Yale, John 
Avery about 1830; William C. Whitney, 1863; Frank E. Wing, 
1886. Williams, Harvey Rice, 1824. Hamilton, H. G. O. 
Dwight, 1827. Wesleyan, Henry Bannister, 1836. Clark, Albert 
Sanderson, 1897. Holy Cross, George Dacey, 1913. Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural, Herbert J. Stack, 1912. Goucher, Ger- 
trude Pease, 1901. Smith, Marguerite Dobson, 1916. 

The number of those who in various schools have pursued 
courses of study more or less extended beyond the high school 
grade is literally too numerous to mention. Teaching has been 
a favorite occupation with both sexes, yet eight Conway boys 
have been physicians and fourteen have been lawyers. Of the 
latter four became judges and one, William C. W^hitney, LL.D., 
was Secretary of the Navy in the Cleveland administration. 
Thirty-seven have been ministers of the Gospel. 

The youth were encouraged to seek a higher education. The 
pastors of the churches often tutored their promising young 



164 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

people. Mary Lyon after graduating from Sanderson Academy 
studied for a time with Rev. Edward Hitchcock, then pastor of 
the Conway Congregational Church. Mr. Hitchcock soon after 
became a professor at Amherst College and later the president. 
Mary Lyon taught a select school in Conway about 1821 and 
later founded Mount Holyoke Seminary with Dr. Hitchcock as 
her trusted adviser. Thus Conway has always felt a peculiar 
interest in these two institutions. 

MRS. PERRY'S SCHOOL. 
Miss M. Elizabeth Childs, a daughter of Horace B. Childs 
of Conway, graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary and as we 
have seen taught: there for eleven years. She married Rev. 
H. D. Perry and came to Conway in 1870 to care for her aged 
father. She soon began to tutor students from Mount Holyoke 
who had failed in examinations and this led to the opening of a 
boarding school for girls. The school was appropriately named 
for its beautiful situation "Hill View." The first class to grad- 
uate was in 1874. The school continued for twenty-four years 
and about two hundred young ladies in all were enrolled as pupils. 
The students came from twenty different states and territories 
of the Union, and from three provinces of Canada. Three pupils 
were enrolled from Bulgaria. A large portion of the graduates 
went direct to Mount Holyoke, for which they were especially 
prepared. 

SELECT SCHOOLS. 

Deacon John Clary kept a select school in the South Center 
from 1831 to 1843 and gave it such high rank that many pupils 
from other towns attended it. His dwelling was two miles and a 
half from the school, to and from which he went each day, and 
during the twelve years he traveled about nine thousand miles. 
Then a similar private school was kept up for several years in 
the old Town Hall at the South Center. The building was 
owned by different individuals, who gave the use of it for this 
purpose. The school was taught chiefly by young men from 
college. John Emerson, grandson of the first pastor, FoUet, 
Fletcher, and Henry J. Patrick were long remembered as men of 
inspiring personality. The pupils of this private school paid 
tuition, and bought their own books and supplies. 



THE SCHOOLS. 165 

CONWAY ACADEMY. 

But a better building, devoted exclusively to the school, 
was felt to be needed. Many made sacrifices in erecting it. 
Among these numerous contributions were four hundred dollars 
bequeathed by Calvin Bartlett, one hundred and fifty dollars 
presented by Gen. James S. Whitney, one hundred dollars by 
Asa Howland, and one hundred dollars by Rufus Graves. So 
general was the interest that the voluntary gifts amounted to 
twenty-three hundred dollars. Academies were doing a great 
work in those days and this school was given that name. It 
was controlled by a corporation called a prudential committee, 
consisting of fifteen men, among whom were Rev. George M. 
Adams, who was president. Dr. E. D. Hamilton, treasurer, and 
David C. Rogers, secretary. These men bought four acres of 
land as the site for the new building. This site was admirably 
selected, midway between the three villages, almost in the 
exact center of the town, retired, and with a beautiful outlook 
to the east. The building was of two stories, and the first term 
opened in December, 1853, with Charles D. Fitch and Miss 
Felicia H. Emerson as teachers. Later John W. Underhill and 
his sister. Miss Laura P. l^nderhill, had charge of the school for 
two or three years. The chief funds were still expected to come 
from the pupils. Hence as many as possible were secured, 
irrespective of any definite standard of scholarship, and these 
were favored with a great variety of recitations, suited to their 
degree of progress. A catalog printed in 1858 gives the names 
of two hundred and thirty-one pupils as having been connected 
with the school up to that time. These pupils represented 
twenty-seven towns in four states. 

Meanwhile it was necessary to eke out the salary of the 
teachers by voluntary contributions. Among others, Mrs. 
George M. Adams, wife of the C^ongregational pastor, contributed 
three hundred dollars from her private funds, to meet these 
current expenses. A picnic brought in one hundred and eighteen 
dollars for the same purpose. After less than ten years of such 
exertions to support the school, its fine building was destroyed 
by fire in 1861. But there was no disposition to give up effort 
to furnish the boys and girls a fair education, without going out 
of town for it. Insurance on the old building was recovered to 



166 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the amount of fifteen hundred dollars. A one-story building 
was planned, of the same dimensions on the ground as its prede- 
cessor, being about twenty-five by fifty feet, with seats for 
nearly fifty pupils in its larger room. Subscriptions were again 
started. Several, as Whitney, Tupper, L. Stearns, gave one 
hundred dollars each, others fifty dollars, and a long list twenty- 
five dollars. The new building cost two thousand, five hundred 
and seventy dollars, and was not fully completed until 1864. 

For many years the school was run on the old plan of securing 
as many scholars as possible for the price of their tuition. 
Those wishing to study the languages must pay five dollars a 
term; those desiring a good English course must pay four 
dollars; while a passable English education might be secured 
for three dollars and fifty cents a term. Teachers of varied 
capacity were obtained according to the prospects of a small or 
large school. Discipline must not offend parents, or there would 
be a loss of scholars and shortage in funds. But in 1886 the 
prudential committee turned o^'er the control of the school to 
the town, a general committee was appointed, and the, academy 
changed to a high school. This was in line with the evolution 
of the school system in other places. 

CONWAY HIGH SCHOOL. 

In 1886 there came another important step in the school's 
evolution, through the adoption of regular courses of study, 
patterned after the best high schools in the state. The English 
course extended three years; the Latin and English, four. 
Graduation exercises were to mark their completion and merit 
to be recognized in the appointments. The first class graduated 
was that of 1888. The graduates by classes under the present 
system have been: 1888 — Elizabeth Johnson, Lila Sinclair; 
1889 — Angie L. Freeman, Emma F. Adams, Jennie A. Rice; 
1890 — Irene L. Boyden, Nellie M. Brown, Louise Townsend, 
Luna Rice, George W. Townsend, Charles J. Higgins; 1891 — 
Belle Holcomb, Charlotte Howland, Susie Pease, Harold Howes, 
Charles D. Rice, Franklin Stowe; 1892 — no graduates; 1893 — 
Florence Howland, Mamie Cook, Grace Pease, Agnes Stowe, 
Minnie Cook, Robert Burnham, Albert Sanderson, Leroy SefTens, 
Ella Howes, Nettie Hopkins, Hattie Field, Amy Hopkins, 



THE SCHOOLS. 



167 



Eva Day, Etta Keyes, Mabel Batchelder; 1894 — no graduates; 
1895 — Mary Bartlett, Mary D. Rice, Sylvia Parsons, Earl E. 
Miller, Harold Day, Delos Atkins; 1896 — Darwin Sanderson, 
Bertha AUis, Alice E. Rice; 1897— Hattie Clary, Edith Field, 
Elizabeth Field, Gertrude Pease, Loula Pulsifer, MoUie A. 
Mullins, ■ Alice Mason, Ellen Dougherty, Charles T. Field; 
1898 — Jessamine Sikes, Clarence Flagg, William D. Field, 
Marcellus Cook; 1899 — Fannie Clary, May E. Field, George H. 
Hopkins, I\I. Gertrude Peck; 1900 C. i'auline Sikes, Alfred C. 





.#■ 


;%'■ 




y^w'^- 




'4L^-'^^'-' 


^ 




IHQ^^' 




,;(;'^^ft^*V 


:-m 




mm'^ 




Bfe.'!^?:/: 






I^^L, 


K^^^H 


^H^ . ^M 


J^k 




HHHjjkr 




^^^Bb' ■ 


-J 


bJfljM 


^K 


'■Bn^*^ ' ■ s "■ 




^^ ' - • 


M 




|^^H|^j 














- ^■'^ '^^VH^K^^^^K 













Academy Buildixg^Present High School. 



Field, Winifred AUis, Winifred J(jhnson, H. Merrill Pease; 
1901— Cora M. Hassell, Mary F. Sanderson; 1902— Minnie 
Batchelder, Jessie Cook, Louise Cook, Minnie Mason, Bertha 
Rice, Sarah Totman; 1903 — Margaret Sikes, Arthur Forgette, 
Wilbur C. Field; 1904— Mabel Bond, Winifred Field; 1905— 
Anna Bement, Walter Buck, Mary Holcomb, Elizabeth King, 
Gertrude Leonard; 1906 — Blanche Fortin, Grace E. A. Field, 
Mary Hopkins, Ethel King, May Turner; 1907— Leon Bardwell, 
Lucy Bement, Bertha Stone, Lucy Wilder; 1908 — Maud Bond, 
Helen Johnson, Isabelle McFarland, Viola Morton, Eva W^ells; 
1909 — George Dacey, Roy Hart, John Parker, Bertha Connelly, 



168 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Ruth Hopkins, Harriet Totman; 1910 — Bertha Adams, Gertrude 
Howland; 1911 — Anna Chute, Margaret Dacey, Leslie Rice, 
Mary Totman, Ruth Totman, Leon Wells; 1912 — Raymond 
Boyden, Sumner Boyden, Winifred Laidley, Newell Morton, 
Sylvia Morton, Myrtle Parker; 1913 — Mildred Mason, Edward 
Parsons; 1914 — Sherman Arms, Charles Cooper, Richard 
Totman, Edna Graves, Clara Twining, Jeanette Sinclair; 1915 — 
Howard Boyden, E. Ray Hardie, Charles McKenzie, Louise 
Burnham, Vera Eldridge, Marion Jones, Beatrice Reed; 1916 — 
Mark Germain, Harold Hassell, Russell Wells. Of the one hun- 
dred and thirty-three graduates named above, nine continued their 
studies in college and twenty-one in other educational institutions. 

In 1889 an effort was put forth to arouse added interest and 
support for the High School through giving a public dinner at 
which men of note were invited to give addresses. These dinners 
were given annually for ten years and were occasions of much 
enjoyment. Prominent among the speakers were Dr. Samuel 
Harris, Dr. Edward Hitchcock, son of President Hitchcock, 
George W. Cable, George Howland, Dr. Charles B. Rice, Dr. 
Benjamin Hahn, Dr. Charles F. Rice, and Dr. Sidney W. Bridg- 
man. Marshall Field was invited to attend one of the 
dinners and this led to his presenting a check for five hundred 
dollars. William C. Whitney sent a gift of one hundred dollars 
and a like sum came from Fisher Ames, and from Marshall 
Field's brother, Henry Field. These presents, with the receipts 
from the dinners, put a fund of about twelve hundred dollars 
for the school into the hands of the school committee. In 1916 
a field of about five acres in the rear of the town hall was 
purchased with 'this fund for a public park and playground. 
In addition the town holds a bequest of one thousand dollars 
from George Howland, the income of which is to be applied to 
books of reference for the use of the High School. 

An Alumni Association was formed in 1910 and each year a 
pleasant reunion is held with a banquet and after-dinner speak- 
ing. The enrollment of the High School for the year ending 
June, 1916, was thirty-four. 




'^^in^^tJ^'^ ^^^-^^ 





.^Uc'^Z-i^^ 



Chapter VIII. 

THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 
By Rev. Charles B. Rice, D.D. 

It is not purposed to follow in detail the events in the life of 
Marshall Field any further than as they are connected with the 
gift of the Field Memorial Library to his native town. The out- 
lines only, or what might be thought of as the natural metes and 
bounds of that remarkable life, are given. 

In the early years of their family life the home of John Field 
and Fidelia Nash, his wife, stood upon what is known as Field's 
Hill — toward the southeastern part of the town of Conway 
and about a mile from the center. The twin summits, rounded 
and grass covered, are conspicuous objects from every direction. 
They command beautiful prospects on every side; but especially 
eastward over the wide valley of the Connecticut River which 
they overlook by an elevation of a thousand feet. Marshall 
Field in his later life w^as accustomed to say that one might travel 
far over the world and see nothing finer. The house stood at the 
highest point of the road, but sheltered a little by a hundred feet 
of the higher land rising above it toward the west. The building 
has since been removed; and the family seat indeed in later 
years was changed. 

There were born to John and Fidelia Field nine children, 
three of whom died in infancy. Of the remaining six. Chandler, 
the elder, became a farmer and died in early manhood. The 
second, Joseph Nash, was for a time a banker in Iowa, but has 
now lived for several years in England as the head of the English 
branch of Marshall Field & Company. The youngest brother, 
Henry, was a member of the Chicago firm and is not now living. 
There were two sisters, Helen E., who became the wife of Lyman 
D. James of Williamsburg, and Laura, who married Henry 
Dibblee of ("hicago. 

Marshall Meld received his early education in the public 
schools, and largely in the district known as Pumpkin Hollow — 
a district long a classic center despite its name. When he was 
seventeen years of age he took a place at Pittsfield in what was 



172 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

then a country store. At twenty-one he went to Chicago and 
obtained employment with Cooley, Wadsworth & Company, 
afterward Cooley, Farwell & Company, one of the leading com- 
mercial houses of the city. His ability soon made itself known. 
In 1860 he became a junior partner in the firm. In 1865 he 
united with Potter Palmer and L. S. Leiter in organizing the 
firm of Field, Palmer & Leiter, which afterward became Field, 
Leiter & Company. Outliving the great fire of 1871, the firm 
became Marshall Field & Company, and it rose swiftly and 
steadily to a foremost place among the mercantile houses of the 
whole world. 

From 1821 there had been in Conway what was called The 
Social Library. It was owned in shares and was long kept at the 
house of John Rowland at Pumpkin Hollow. The drawing of 
books was usually on Thursdays of each second week, after the 
church prayer meeting. The books were few, mostly histories, 
biographies, and sketches of travel. Their quality was of more 
account than their number; and they were in their day of in- 
estimable value. In 1870 this library, with eight hundred books, 
was removed to the town office then in the building of the Conway 
Bank. By the burning of the bank building January 12, 1878, 
all the books were destroyed excepting about one hundred. 
The proprietors then made this library over to the town, and at 
a meeting held March 4, 1878, a Town Library was established. 

Marshall Field had knowledge of these things, and he gave 
liberally to aid in this new enterprise. Generous contributions 
came also from R. R. Graves, from Richard Tucker, and from 
Mrs. R. R. Graves, with $400 from the estate of William B. Fay, 
a man who knew the worth of the old library. 

The opening of this Town Library took place November 15, 
1878. There were at first 710 volumes, including those 
saved from the fire. The town itself gave for several years 
its share in the "unexpended dog tax" — by which indeed in like 
ways of enlightenment the dogs made themselves useful in 
many towns — the amount in Conway being in all about $1,000. 
Books also valued at about $1,000 came from the State 
Library Commission. 

Anticipating here a little the record, it may be stated that 
when Mr. Field's gift of the free public library had been made. 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 173 

the town, at a meeting held November 5, 1901, voted to make 
over its library containing then 2,800 \olumes to Mr. Field; 
and he in turn directed the trustees of the Memorial Library, 
after keeping whatever books they might wish to use, to give 
the rest to some Franklin county towns that might then have no 
library. About 2,500 volumes were accordingly distributed in 
nearly equal shares to the towns of Hawley, Heath, and Lev- 
erett. 

The matter of a free library had thus been long in Mr. Field's 
mind. In 1899 he visited the town with a landscape architect 
and chose the site for the building, and engaged distinguished 
architects to prepare the plans. The Act of Incorporation for 
the library was approved May 4, 1900. By the terms of the Act 
the Corporators, or Trustees, were to be five in number, and 
were all to be citizens of Conway. By a modification later it 
was required that four at least should be Conway men. These 
Trustees were empowered to fill vacancies in their own number. 
The Trustees as originally appointed were: William G. Avery, 
Eugene F. Hunt, Samuel H. Clary, Henry W. Billings, and Arthur 
P. Delabarre. 

By the Fourth of July, 1900, the cornerstone was in re^idiness 
to be laid. There had been a tendency in Conway, not uncom- 
mon in all our towns, to gather public observances of every 
patriotic quality about that anniversary day. On that day, too, 
the farmers with a sense of propriety, and with consequent meas- 
urable comfort, could leave their fields and their crops. On 
this occasion there was a large assemblage of the people with 
visitors from abroad upon the parsonage grounds of the Congre- 
gational church. Here a hospitable dinner was served by the 
ladies of the society. A procession was then formed with Henry 
W. Billings, P2sq., as marshal, and with music by the Sunderland 
Band. They marched down and around the hill and assembled 
beneath an elm near the northwest corner of the parsonage 
lands. Rev. Edward D. Hinchliffe, of the Methodist church, 
read appropriate selections from the Scriptures, and Rev. Charles 
S. Pease, of the Baptist church, led in prayer. Walter M. How- 
land, Esq., of Chicago who is also a son of Conway, delivered 
the address, which is here given in full. 



174 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



Address of Mr. Rowland. 



Citizens of Conway, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

It was with sincere pleasure that I accepted your kind invi- 
tation to take part in the joyous proceedings of this happy and 
memorable day. This pleasure is now greatly increased when I 
find you celebrating the day in a manner that tells of the happi- 
ness that is in your hearts, and of the prosperity that is within 
your homes. On such a year as this, when your fields are all 
waving in their luxuriant and fruitful green, when the trees are 
spreading their well filled branches in the summer air, when the 
country around you is at peace, and happy homes your portion, 
it is with peculiar fitness that we meet to celebrate and to honor 
this birthday of American Independence. 

The history of the past two years has been at variance with 
the traditions of our fathers, and our. responsibility has greatly 
increased. For the present, at least, this departure has brought 
new power to our country and new luster to its name, but what 
the final outcome will be no one can as yet foretell. We feel 
assured, however, that it was not by mere chance that our new 
and large possessions were made over to the United States. It 
was not by a sudden impulse that an able, farsighted secretary, 
himself a native of Conway, created for this country a powerful 
navy in time of peace. It was not simply an incident that our 
warships were manned and controlled by surpassingly skillful 
men. It was not a mere accident that an ofificer of our navy 
sailed into the harbor of an illustrious foe and overwhelmed 
them with defeat and won the victory. It was not a mere bit 
of good fortune at Cuba that enabled our men-of-war to meet 
one after another of that proud Spanish fleet and send them 
down ingloriously. What shall we say then? Can we not see 
that each of these events was a part of one great plan formed by 
a wisdom more than mortal? that 

''Behind the dim unknown, 
Standeth God within the shadow, Iceeping watch above his own." 

On this anniversary day, while a loyal people are recalling 
the wisdom and the glorious deeds of their fathers, out and 
bevond our former boundaries, and in the islands of the sea. 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 175 

men and women of another race are many of them now, for the 
first time, tuning their v^oices to unite with ours in singing the 
sweet and inspiring songs of Hberty. 

Long may this country stand! Long may this union of 
states be welded and strengthened! Long may this nation 
truly be, the home of the brave and the land of the free! 

All through our vast domain we are rejoicing to-day in our 
country's prosperity and power. Here in Conway we have 
also another insj^jiring theme. 

On a beautiful June day six years ago, close by the banks of 
a great inland sea, a large concourse of people, estimated at 
10,000, and embracing the leading representative citizens of the 
great central city of this continent, were wending their way to 
Jackson Park, one of the largest and finest in that city, to listen 
to a scholarh- address about to he delivered by (Mie of her most 
accomplished citizens. It was an ideal day. A gentle breeze 
swept over Lake Michigan and stirred its silvery waves. The 
fleecy clouds shut out the sun's fierce glare, and all was quiet, 
serene, and beautiful. 

The occasion for the gathering of this vast concourse was the 
dedication of the great Field Columbian Museum, presented to 
C^hicago by several of her citizens, of whom by far the largest 
contributor was a son of Conway, in whose honor the great 
museum was named. The primary purpose of this splendid 
gift was to retain in that city many of the beautiful exhibits 
which the nations of the world had sent to the world's great fair 
just closed, and which exhibits they were willing to lea\e in 
grateful recognition of what the city had done for them and for 
the world's advancement. The imperial gift of this fine museum 
appealed to the municipal i)ride of that large audience, and filled 
them with gratitude to him who had the ability and the desire to 
gi\e this great impulse to the city's progress in the cause of an 
enlightened education. Scattered through that vast throng 
there were here and there those who felt not only a municipal 
but almost a fraternal pride in him whose generosity had made 
that great acciuisition possible, for they had known him from 
the beginning; they, like you, had watched his marvelous career, 
and, with you, felt that they might still claim him as almost 
their \er\- own. 



176 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

To-day separated from that scene by more than one thousand 
miles, as well as by six years of constant progress, we have gath- 
ered in this beautiful New England town to lay the corner stone 
of a new library building, to be erected, furnished, and equipped 
by that same son of Conway, and, on its completion, to be pre- 
sented by him to the village of his birth. 

The museum was a graceful tribute to the city of his adoption, 
where his entire business life had been passed. 

The library is a loving tribute to his native town, and to be 
dedicated to the memory of his father and mother. 

Many in this audience knew those parents well. They lived, 
labored, and died here in Conway, and left to their children and 
to this town the priceless legacy of honorable and blameless 
lives. They rest together in yonder cemetery, and there among 
their neighbors and friends quietly await the bright dawning of 
the eternal day. We know that the citizens of this town will 
protect and guard well that sacred burial place, and we also 
know your recent action will awaken the interest and the grati- 
tude of the sons and daughters of Conway all through this land 
who have also placed their loved ones there. 

The library is the storehouse of the world's knowledge, and 
through it the dim light of ancient history sends down to us its 
illuminating rays. It was on tables of stone that God made 
known his will. In the ruins of Nineveh, tablets of baked clay 
have been discovered. Seventeen hundred years before the 
Christian era, Chaldean libraries are said to have been formed, 
and we read that fourteen hundred years before Christ, a library 
was placed in the tomb of an Egyptian king. The first public 
library described in history was founded at Athens five hundred 
years before Christ ; the first private library was that of Aristotle 
three hundred and thirty-four years before the Christian era. 
It was forty-eight years before Christ that the great library at 
Alexandria was destroyed. It is said to have included every 
known literary work of that time, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek, 
Latin, Phoenician, Chaldean, Syrian, and Persian, and the world 
will never cease to mourn its loss. A collection of books in the 
modern sense requires an advanced and elaborate civilization. 
The art of printing gave a great impulse to the formation of 
libraries; for in this way numerous copies of books may be re- 



THE FH:LI) memorial LIHRARY. 177 

produced, and all through the civilized world libraries have been 
established. 

Conway has long had the desire to possess a valuable library, 
but never until now has this desire been sure of its fulfillment. 
This one we know will be carried forward to a beautiful com- 
pletion. A social library was formed in Conway by Edward 
Hitchcock in 1821, when he was the pastor of the Congregational 
church. He afterwards, as you know, became the president of 
Amherst College. The library formed by him was managed 
and used by its members until 1870, when it was transferred to 
the town and opened to the public. Eight years after, it was 
nearly destroyed by fire, but the town had learned its value, and 
felt keenly the loss. At the annual town meeting two months 
later, a new town library was established, a few books were 
purchased, and in the following autumn it was opened, but it 
was not made free to the citizens of the towm until six years ago. 
A more complete library has been greatly needed. A fine library 
is at once a guide, a help, and an inspiration. It brings to us 
the wisdom of the ages, and puts us in communication with the 
best thought of the world. Its influence is refined and elevating 
and can be enjoyed by all. All that is required is the ability to 
read, but with this there should be cultivated the habit of thought 
and of reflection. The library should make of every man a 
student, and it serves, perhaps, more than any other influence to 
broaden the life of a people. It opens up new subjects for study. 
We go to the library as to the source of knowledge. The reading 
of the same books creates kindred thought, and furnishes subject 
for pleasant conversation. The use of a library by persons of 
difi^erent tastes enables each to pursue his favorite study, and 
then by free discussion to lead others along his own path, and in 
either way, the intellectual life of a community will be broadened 
and enriched. The people will become united in intellectual 
growth and friendship; by a long continued study of the best 
authors of our race, the life of every man should become purified 
and exalted. The library will become a social center in the com- 
munity, where each can find congenial companionship. When 
this library is completed, no citizen of Conway need say, " I have 
no place to go." Go to the library. Read there of the world's 
needs and of the world's progress. Learn of the great and beauti- 



178 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

ful world lying all around you. It is during the quiet hours of 
study and reflection that great results are most frequently 
achieved. In the realm of agriculture, in mechanics, in science, 
and in literature, there are many interesting subjects, both old 
and new, and many questions waiting, it may be, for you to 
solve. In the old familiar ways or in new and untried paths, 
there is room for all. With eyes wide open, and with mind 
alert, with a fine library close at hand, there is room for every 
thoughtful, practical man to find his opportunity. He will find 
here books which will suggest new subjects for his thought and 
reflection, and in his own pursuit, whatever it may be, he should 
find delightful companionship. There will be books to teach 
the artisan, to help the inventor, to increase the knowledge of 
the manufacturer, and to broaden the life of the merchant. The 
library will furnish the professional man with food for his thought, 
facts for his arguments, and subjects for his illustrations. The 
library will bring to your home, yes, to your very fireside, not 
the bodily but the intellectual presence of the most learned and 
thoughtful the world has known. They will discourse to you 
in their most elevated and purest strains, and furnish you with 
the results of their long continued study and meditation. They 
will lead you along the pleasant paths which they have traveled, 
they will disclose to you their thoughts and their experience, and 
their signboards will mark the way. They will walk by your 
side and point out to you their discoveries, until, by their com- 
panionship, your own life may become enriched and benefited. 

Are you fond of history? A Pliny, a Gibbon, or a Macaulay 
will tell you the story of the glorious past. Do you care to hear 
of more modern life? A Bancroft, a Parkman, or a Fiske will 
narrate to you in a delightful way facts and circumstances with 
which you may be already somewhat familiar. Are you in- 
terested in astronomy? Take to your home the works of Herschel, 
and then with Chambers or Todd for your guide go out and 
study the beauty and the glory of the heavens. I^ocate the 
constellations. Learn their names, and become familiar with 
the stars. Study the mystery of other worlds, all moved and 
directed by the same Almighty hand. 

Are you interested in electricity? Come and read of recent 
discoveries. Study the unfolding of this marvelous power, and 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 179 

meditate upon its wonderful possibilities. Are >'ou fond of 
poetry? Read again, and yet again, the dramas of Shakespeare; 
listen to the splendid verse of Scott; the charming lines of Byron 
and to the rhythmic verse of Moore and of Burns. Tennyson 
may bring you unfailing pleasure; Lowell may be your delight; 
Whittier your friend; and Longfellow your charming companion. 
Will Homer and Virgil interest you more? Here they are, await- 
ing the touch of your friendly hand. Would you learn of war 
and the formation and leadership of armies? Come, enter the 
chariot of C?esar while he makes known to you his plans. Ride 
out to the war with Napoleon, and become acquainted with his 
wonderful career. Spend your evenings with Grant and with 
Sherman, and study their plans, their battles, and their victories. 
Would you know" of the world's great orators? Come and listen 
to the inspiring orations of Cicero, to the thrilling words of 
Demosthenes; read in the quiet of your own room Webster's 
reply to Hayne; listen to Patrick Henry's clarion call; and let 
your soul be stirred with the burning eloquence of Wendell 
Phillips. All these, men of superior thought and of power, will 
come to you again and again, and give you always of their \'ery 
best. Not the passing of transient thought, but the result of 
their study and reflection. Fear them not. They will not 
weary of you, and will allow you to close the interview at will, 
and with no semblance of discourtesy. 

The founding of a library is a grand conception and a great 
blessing.' It is a double blessing; it blesses him that gives and 
him that takes. It is a great privilege for one to have the 
ability to make this fine gift. It is much more to ha\e the 
disposition to help and benefit mankind. 

Many of you will remember Leigh Hunt's beautiful conception 
of one 

"Who awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, 
And saw within the moonlight in his room, 
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold. 

******* 
The names of those who loved the Lord." 

But you will remember that when the book was finished the 



180 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

first on that roll of honor was, "The name of one who loved his 
fellow-men." 

The founding of a public library brings with it an increase 
of responsibility. Such an influence cannot be created in your 
midst and the town remain the same. The intellectual standing 
of this community may be greatly elevated by its presence; but 
there comes the obligation to use it; if used faithfully and 
intelligently, this obligation will become a pleasure, and be ever 
a new source of happiness. But the community, like the in- 
dividual, cannot remain at rest. There is, in fact, no time for 
inaction. The years are hastening by and neither you nor I can 
stay the resistless progress. 

Not long ago I heard an able minister picture to his congrega- 
tion the many delightful pursuits in which in early life he had 
hoped to engage, and as one intellectual pleasure after another 
was described, he ended each with the sad words, "But alas! 
there is no time." 

Are you more than familiar with your own life's pursuit, and 
do you sometimes become wearied with the daily routine? Are 
you occupied day after day with the same thoughts, and walking 
on in paths well worn? By means of some interesting book, 
which you wall find in this library, you may seek another's 
guidance. In the same path with you or in kindred pursuits 
you may find new pleasure in his thoughts and experience. You 
may with him pass beyond the usual limitations of your own 
reflections, and enter his world of thought and of investigation. 
You will there find much that is old, but you may find much 
more that is new. 

We live in a progressive age. The mind is reaching out in 
all directions. There seems to be no limit to its investigations 
and its discoveries. The wisdom of yesterday is ignorance 
to-day. Have you ever reflected how down through the ages 
there has existed a wonderfully marvelous power close at hand 
unknown to our ancestors, unknown to the world, almost wholly 
beyond human knowledge? Franklin had a suggestion of this 
power in the lightning, but the limitations of his busy life pre- 
vented any complete investigation. But within the last twenty- 
five years how much has been revealed! In one way a power is 
generated almost beyond our comprehension. By a mere contact 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 181 

of wires, we see trains of cars filled with their living freight 
speeding along through city and country, and up and down our 
hills. By another method, a heat is produced almost beyond 
human measurement. In still another way, a light shines forth, 
too intense for mortal vision to endure its splendor. Still again, 
by this power, the thought, even the human \'oice, is borne 
through space with the speed of the lightning, and the mystery 
of life is also within its grasp. And yet, all through the ages, 
this power has existed the same as now, but the wisest men of 
the world failed to discover its properties and barely recognized 
its existence. What are the limitations of electricity? and when 
will electric discovery reach its full development? Probably 
not in your lifetime or mine. 

To-day I am reminded that more than forty years have 
passed since some of those who are gathered here went out from 
this town to take their part in the world of men, but it requires 
no words of mine to assure you that forty years are not long 
enough to destroy the love or weaken the loyalty which the sons 
of Conway cherish for their native town. 

"\Vc love her rocks and rills, 
Her woods and templed hills." 

And when I came to-day, walking up from my early home, and 
stood once more on yonder hill where each day the first rays of 
the morning sun stream down into your village, "My heart with 
rapture thrilled" at this familiar and ever inspiring scene. I 
could not but notice that during the last forty years changes 
have been going on in Conway. I missed the old church with 
its lofty spire. The old academy with its delightful memories 
and associations has given place to one more conii)acl in its 
dimensions. Forests wave where fields were bare. And now 
the electric cars are speeding along yonder hillside. Instead, 
too, of the old friends, we then knew so well, we look into the 
faces of another generation. But the outline of the village re- 
mains unaltered, and the old hills are just the same. Far to the 
north I could discern the familiar outline of Shelburne's Moun- 
tain, while close at hand Arms's beautiful grove still casts its 
grateful shade; and over and beyond the village, I noticed the 
modest home of the first pastor of the town, who for more than 



182 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

forty years led, preached, and prayed for this people. His life 
with those long years of service is now well-nigh forgotten. But 
the old home is still conspicuous by reason of the two fine elms 
of lofty branch and of great beauty, one of which, tradition says, 
was brought home as a riding switch and planted there by the 
Id pastor on returning from one of his long horseback rides to 
oston. On each Sabbath morning one hundred years ago, 
when the church bell sounded the hour of worship, the old pastor 
could be seen, with his Bible, his hymn-book, and his sermon, 
walking down to the village church, while at the same appointed 
hour, down from the neighboring hills, and up from their valley 
homes, his faithful parishioners were gathering in. It was the 
Sabbath, and each one knew his duty and his place. The father 
of the family took his seat at the head of the pew; the faithful 
mother sat in quiet dignity at the other end; and each one 
recognized the fact in those early days, that no family could be 
regarded as complete until at least six little boys and girls 
occupied the intervening space. John Emerson came to this 
town when the population was about 400, and, as he afterwards 
expressed it, "It was literally John preaching in the wilderness." 
During his pastorate, the population increased to 2,000. He was 
eminently a prayerful and devoted minister, of dignified presence, 
and ready of speech, until in later years an impediment somewhat 
marred his pulpit utterances, but it w^as scarcely perceptible in 
his devotional exercises, showing, it was said, that it was more 
natural for him to pray than to converse. 

Two other distinguished men have occupied the Congrega- 
tional pulpit in this town, and left their impress here, — men who 
commenced their ministerial life in Conway. They were pastors 
and students, and afterwards both became college presidents, 
both were teachers and leaders of men. One was Edward 
Hitchcock, whose active mind and desire for knowledge led him 
to organize the first library here, and also led him in his investi- 
gations out among the woods and fields of Conway, until be 
became at length one of the greatest geologists and teachers of 
his time; he became 

"That Reverend sage who loved to trace 
Creation through the rocks, 
And on the Rock of Ages, place 
His academic flocks. 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 183 

Oil, the grandest man of men, good sirs, 
In the days when we were boys, 
Held royal reign o'er heart and brain, 
In the days when we were boys." 

Still later Samuel Harris served his first pastorate here, and 
here acquired those habits of thought and reflection that enabled 
him also to become one of the leading theologians and teachers 
of his generation. One year ago he passed away, a grand old 
man, wise and full of years. 

For each of us, I am sure, these hills, these valleys, these 
dwellings and these streets, are filled with i)leasant memories and 
interesting traditions. 

Citizens of Conway, do you appreciate the marvelous beauty 
of these valleys and hills? Didst thou ever drive down along 
the old hill road to Whately, and pausing before that scene of 
beauty, look out over the Connecticut valley clad in the varie- 
gated carpeting of its summer loveliness? Didst thou in the 
early morning ever climb to the summit of Field's Hill and look 
out on that surpassing scene? Years ago when I was a boy, the 
young people went up there again and again to watch the rising 
sun, and in memory's light I see it still. Out to the right we 
looked on the undulating summits of Mounts Holyoke and Tom. 
Directly in front we could see the tower and surrounding build- 
ings of Amherst College. Farther to the north, stood old Sugar 
Loaf 

"Gazing with changeless brow upon a scene changing to fairer beauty 
evermore," 

while still further to the left we could discern on a clear morning, 
out on the dim and distant horizon, where 

"A score of i)iney miles still smooth the rough Monadnock to a gem." 

Do you know, my friends, that these charming scenes also 
have an influence in shaping the characters of your daughters and 
your sons? There is the library of books, there is the library of 
nature, and both will soon be beautifully blended in this fair New 
England town. I remember a few years ago Dr. Richard Salter 
Storrs, that fine scholarly old man who has so recently passed 
away, came to Chicago, and a meeting was called of the alumni 



184 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

of his college to do him honor, knowing well that his presence 
would also honor us. I remember that after referring to the fine 
opportunities for acquiring an education which a New England 
college offers to her sons in its regular course of study, he said 
that if any young man who had no especial liking for the regular 
routine of college requirements was given a congenial book and 
placed out under one of New England's fine old elms, if he spent 
the most of his time among the fields, in the forests, along her 
water brooks, or in climbing her hills, that if he there studied 
nature from nature's purest source, and if he had the heart to 
take it in, all this of itself would be an education, and of this class, 
back in its early days, Amherst College had one distinguished 
representative. She numbers among her alumni no more 
brilliant name than that of Henry Ward Beecher. Some years 
ago I heard him deliver a public address in a neighboring town. 
During that address he left for a moment his subject, and referred 
to his early life in New England. He pictured to us the hills 
and the valleys, the forests, the rivers, and the skies, as no other 
man could picture them. He opened our eyes and our under- 
standings that we might see and appreciate these charming 
scenes, which could so bless and illumine our lives. Yes, it was 
while living among the hills and valleys of Western Massachusetts 
that Beecher's soul went out to nature, and through those studies 
of nature up to nature's God, so completely that in after life 
when he referred again to these charming scenes, with which in 
youth he was so familiar, the word, the thought, was never 
wanting, but only time to give them their full expression. 

To those of us who live out on the wide level plains of the 
West, I know of nothing more delightful than to come back in 
the early days of summer and look again on these New England 
hills. To those of us who are passing our lives amid the engross- 
ing activities of the great central city of this continent, I know 
of nothing more restful, more helpful, than to come back to this 
fine old town and enjoy here a few days of summer rest and 
recreation; so quiet it is, so distinct from the busy whirl of 
metropolitan life. 

I scarcely know of a greater pleasure than on some charming 
morning, with rod in hand, and with basket on one's arm, to 
stroll along your water-brooks, and fill the basket with flower 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 185 

and fern, with a lower tier of speckled trout gathered by many 
a rock and shady nook. I rarely find a day which brings me 
more quiet pleasure than when I wander through these forests 
and listen again to the songs of the wood birds, the drumming of 
the partridge, the barking of the squirrel. It is restful on a quiet 
summer day to repose on some hillside in the shadow of a great 
rock, where it was placed by its Creator. It is interesting and 
suggestive to sit by some crumbling hearthstone, by the old cellar 
of a deserted and forgotten home, now given over to the wood- 
chuck and the fox, where happy children once played, where old 
flowers still grow, where the rose and the lilac linger; or, it may 
be, to repose in the shade of some old elm or maple planted there 
long ago by loving hands long since at rest. 

With this fine building, whose plans we all admire, the street 
and the town should be in harmony, both well kept, each a thing 
of beauty. How can the beauty of this town be increased? In 
no way better, I think, than in the cultivation and preservation of 
your trees. 

Years ago in the old academy, which stood up there on yonder 
hill, I learned to translate from the Latin this sentence, "The 
good husbandman plants trees the fruit of which he may never 
enjoy." It is said that Webster's advice to young people about 
to establish a home was, "Plant trees. Adorn your grounds. 
Live for the benefit of those who shall come after you." Down 
in the river towns of Connecticut valley their chief adornment is 
found in their fine old elms which it has taken centuries to pro- 
duce. I have referred to the old elms which parson Emerson 
once planted in front of his Conway home. I have said that he 
preached in this town for more than forty years, and he was a 
man of ability cmd of power. I have in my young days occa- 
sionally found a sermon of his laid away on some closet shelf 
quite forgotten. I have seen somewhere a list of his personal 
expenses preserved as a curiosity. But after these many years, 
and as a result of his long and able pastorate in this town, I 
know of nothing to-day more beneficial, more beautiful, more 
enduring than the two old elms, which in one-half day, he may 
have planted. 

Down at my early home there are several maples, which were 
planted by two boys nearly one hundred years ago. Two of them 



186 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

are trees of unusual beauty. Those two boys lived their long 
lives here in Conway, each lived to be more than eighty years of 
age, and several years ago both of them passed away. Five 
generations have played beneath their shade, but those fine old 
maples still wave their branches in the summer air, and give to 
the old home one of its chief adornments. 

I knew another tree, a maple that once stood in this town, 
large, old, and beautiful. It was a shapely tree. It was strong 
and healthy, an ornament and a delight. It must have stood 
there more than one hundred years to have reached such full 
perfection. It stood on a neighboring farm, and many a time in 
my happy boyhood I have climbed into its branches, or rested in 
its cooling shade. A subsequent owner, who has also passed 
away, cut it down for fuel one winter's day, and only a decaying 
stump marks its side. I feel in passing like "Walking backward 
with averted gaze to hide the shame." To remove such a tree 
is a calamity beyond description. I remember another; an elm 
of later growth and of unusual promise. It spread its fine 
branches with wondrous symmetry. It was young and thrifty, 
and shaded not a foot of valuable soil. That, too, has gone. 
It is, indeed, a pity to remove so charming an ornament. 

And so I say, citizens of Conway, observe your Arbor Day, 
plant your trees, and guard their growth. There is no other and 
better way to make this town beautiful. At my distant home in 
the West, men are employed on account of their discernment and 
taste to beautify and care for the parks and boulevards. They 
plant forest trees, the elm, the maple, the birch, the oak, and the 
ash, and water and tend them well. The trees are regarded there, 
and I think everywhere, as the finest ornament a park or boule- 
vard can have. Here in Conway the elm, the maple, the ash, 
and the birch thrive and flourish in their native soil. Spare 
then your trees, and they in turn will reward you with their 
surpassing beauty. I have read that the chestnut, the walnut, 
and the maple may be planted here with fine success on barren 
hills. It is well worth a trial. 

Pardon one more suggestion. Fine state roads are being 
built in Massachusetts. You have able men in Conway. Bring 
this road to your town; and then on some fine day drive out 
among your valleys and hills and thank the good Lord that your 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 187 

"lines are cast in such pleasant places, and that you hav^e so 
goodly a heritage." 

I have in mind another way in which this town can be made 
more attractive. There is a Fish Commission in this Common- 
wealth, and Conway is entitled to its share of the spawn. Secure 
that share. Place them in your clear, cool brooks and ponds, 
and then there will be enough for all. 

In various ways this town can be mtide, not only more 
attractive, but exceedingly beautiful. Nature has done so much. 
Keep all in harmony with the fine adornment about to be erected 
here. 

Many a loyal son of Conway shared in your indignation a few 
months ago when some unhappy writer wrote his article on the 
decadence of New England towns, and published his unkind 
criticism. He could not have made his observations here. He 
could not have been familiar with your growth, your prosperity, 
and your people. He could not have noticed your new reservoir 
while speeding along on your electric cars. It may be that these 
cars propelled by invisible power would have impressed the 
writer less than the old stagecoach of a past generation, drawn 
by its six prancing horses, as it hastened through your village. 
That, however, was the show, but this the substance. The 
invisible powers are often the mightiest. The quiet depths of 
ocean are more potent than the foaming spray. 

It may be that there have of "late been greater opportunities 
in the West for financial success or for professional distinction 
than are to be found in the Eastern states; but we are all thankful 
if we were born in Conway. We are thankful to have had 
around us, in our early days, the sweet and pure influences of 
New England. We like to send our children here that they may 
attend your schools, become attached to your hills, and have the 
same quiet, ennobling joys that we are so glad to remember. 
Every man who is out in life's busy whirl looks back with fondness 
to his origin, and longs for the time when he can return and be 
one of you again. I can still recall some of the places we selected 
when we were boys in Conway as the sites for our future homes 
in our maturer years; and now, when we speak of "home," we 
still refer to Conway, and when we speak of Heaven, we often 
think of those who have passed up yonder from your hills. 



188 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Those of us who were born in Conway remember well the 
fine old men and charming women of the last generation, grand 
men and beautiful women. Let me recall some of their individual 
and family names. There were Deacon Avery, Colonel Rice, 
Deacon Clary, the Drs. Hamilton, old and young. General 
Howland, General Whitney, Captain Childs, Captain Parsons, 
Dr. Rogers, Colonel Billings; and then there were the Clarke 
family, the Fields, the Arms, the Bartletts, the Boydens, the 
Newhalls, the Packards, and many more whose lives and whose 
memories are closely identified with the history of this town. 

A few years ago a loyal old resident of Massachusetts, one of 
her leading citizens, was returning from the West by the Hoosac 
Tunnel route. On his journey he had made the acquaintance 
of a bright newspaper man of the West, who had been invited 
to come East and take charge of one of your leading papers. 
He was then on his way, for the first time, to look this country 
over, and was examining all closely arid with great interest. In 
the early morning, as the train emerged from Hoosac Mountain, 
and came winding along down among the rugged hills of Zoar, 
he called my aged friend to the platform and asked him to look 
around. "What a country!" he exclaimed. "All woods, rocks, 
and barrenness. What is it good for? Nothing. What will it 
produce? Nothing." "Wait a moment," replied the loyal old 
son of Massachusetts, "let us see. Did you ever hear of Mary 
Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke Seminary?" "Oh, yes." 
"Those hills up there to the right are the hills of Buckland. It 
was her native town. Do you see those fine hills beyond?" 
"Yes." "They are in Cummington. It was there that William 
CuUen Bryant was born, and there he still loyally and lovingly 
maintains his summer home. Just beyond us here (he said as 
the train was flying on) we shall come to the handsome hill town 
of Conway. It was there that Marshall Field and William C, 
Whitney were born." And then this loyal old statesman, with 
pardonable pride, exclaimed, "I tell you, my friend, this country 
has produced something." 

The gift of a free public library is an event of the greatest 
moment in your history. Filled with books and pictures, and 
with things of beauty, it will stand here at the head of this, your 
principal street, as a help and an inspiration long after those who 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 189 

have gathered here to-day have passed away, and most of us 
been forgotten. In the years to come it will be a constant 
reminder to the \()ung men and w^omen of Conway of Hfe's great 
possibilities. It will stand here, an ornament, an incentive, 
and a guide. It will place, within reach of all, the means whereby 
each one can choose more intelligently, the path which to him 
w^ill be the most attractive, the pursuit in life which will please 
him best. "Free to all" w'ill be its welcome. It will recognize 
no privileged class. It will be a blessing, alike to all. When 
this gift was first announced, I read in your papers this simple 
direction: "Make it as large as necessities require, and make it 
as fine as any in New England." 

It wall stand here in Conway a monument to its founder, but 
those who know^ him well, know that this is not his purpose. He 
needs no such monument. In the memory of his early home, he 
builds this library, and in the upbuilding of the town, he will 
find his rew^ard. 

He is to-day placing in your midst the finest, the most beauti- 
ful of all your material possessions. 

When, then, the history of this town shall be written, when 
the record is completed, of those sons and daughters of Conway 
who in this generation have done the most to adorn and beautify 
this town, and to bring happiness and blessing to its citizens, I 
am sure we all admit that first on that list of the deser\ing shall 
be placed the honored and honorable name of 

MARSHALL FIELD. 

A copper box had been prepared to be deposited within the 
corner foundation stone. It contained a catalogue of the Town 
Library, as it then existed, a copy of the Chicago Times Herald 
of May 24, 1900, which contained a description and picture of 
the Field Memorial Library; a copy of the Springfield Republican 
of April 15, 1900, with a picture and description of the library; 
a copy of the Greenfield Recorder of May 16, 1900, containing an 
illustrated article fully describing the library and giving a sketch 
of Marshall Field ; a copy of the Gazette and Courier of Greenfield 
of June 30, containing an announcement of the laying of the 
corner stone July 4, 1900; a copy of the Springfield Republican 
of July Fourth containing a programme of the day's observance; 



190 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

pages of "Picturesque Franklin" illustrating and describing 
Conway; a copy of the Act of Incorporation of the Library, and 
photographs of Marshall Field, the donor, and of his father and 
mother, in whose memory the library was to be built. 

The box was deposited in its place by Mrs. Helen Field James 
amid the applause of the people. Words of dedication and 
invocation were spoken by Rev. Eugene F. Hunt of the Congrega- 
tional church. The hymn, America, was sung by the assembly, 
with the leadership of the band, and Rev. William F. Avery pro- 
nounced the prayer of benediction. 

The work of building went on with skill and with generous 
carefulness. Messrs. Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of Boston were 
the designing architects, the construction being under the special 
direction of Mr. Coolidge. 

The library, which is of purpose distinctly monumental in 
character, is built in the classic style of architecture in Greek 
detail. The exterior is of limestone with copper dome and 
roofs. The building measures 41 feet from sill to the top of the 
dome. The dome is 25 feet in diarcieter. The vestibule opens 
into the rotunda, which is 30 feet square, with floor of marble 
mosaic in rich colors and surrounded by Ionic columns of solid 
Brescia Violet marble with a high dado of Brescia Violet marble 
between the columns. 

There is a reading room, rectangular in shape, about 21 feet 
by 23 feet on either side of the rotunda. In the rear of the 
rotunda is the stack room, which will accommodate 25,000 or 
30,000 volumes. 

With the early summer of 1901, the building was ready for 
its use. Friday, July 13, was appointed for the opening services 
of dedication. Our native town gives us beautiful days for great 
observances, with air and sunlight befitting to the occasion. 
Many recalled the enlivening skies and fields of that day in June, 
twenty-four years before, when the One Hundredth Anniversary 
of the incorporation of the town was commemorated. It is 
probable that no other events since the first occupation of the 
place have awakened such universal interest, or brought together 
assemblages so large, as these two. But from the early times 
there have been many gatherings in Conway in the groves and 
open fields, and our thoughts go back on these occasions to the 




I .. 



192 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

reports of the great patriotic and political celebrations on 
Independence Day, especially in the opening years of the 
nineteenth century; or we have in mind, perhaps, the traditional 
memories of that sterner call which brought every able bodied 
man to the Common by the old Meeting House when the cry 
of Burgoyne's coming ran through the land. The record is long 
and varied, but thus far there has been no observance that is 
likely to hold about itself associations and remembrances more 
pleasing and grateful than those which belong with the opening 
of this Memorial Library. 

Special invitations had gone to all throughout the place; the 
occasion was for all; all, almost, were there. Many sons and 
daughters of the town long absent had returned ; many strangers 
were there but not as strangers; county and town officials were 
there, and librarians, in numbers, from towns near and distant; 
many personal friends of Mr. Field were with him. A stand had 
been erected and seats prepared upon the green in front of the 
library — upon the spot, where long before had been the open 
playground about the old Brick Schoolhouse. 

Mr. Field was early upon the ground. In a walk with Mr. 
Hunt toward the tent which had been spread for dinner he 
spoke of the perfect day, of the decorations, of his appreciation 
of the interest shown in the occasion by the people of the town, 
and of his own strong affection for the town of his birth. He 
expressed his belief also that farming, the leading occupation of 
the town, could be made as profitable as ever, and as profitable 
in Conway as anywhere else. 

Referring to the exercises of the day Mr. Hunt expressed his 
deep appreciation of the fact that Mr. Field had consented to 
present the library in a brief address. To this Mr. Field replied 
that he had much doubt as to the wisdom of his promise to do 
that. He said that he had never made a speech in his life. He 
referred to the fact that the young people at the present time 
become accustomed to speaking in their religious societies and 
elsewhere more than they did when he was a boy. He said that 
it was too late for him to begin to make speeches, but that he 
had promised to say something, and that he was quite willing 
to do it if it would give the people of the town any pleasure. 
He added that he had purposed to give the day to Conway, 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 193 

and that he h^id told his Chicago friends that they would have 
to take care of themselves. 

While the assembly was gathering, and before the formal 
opening of the service, a concert was given by the band of the 
Second Regiment from Springfield. 

Upon the speakers' stand were: — 

Marshall F"ield. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lyman 1). James. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dwight James and Mrs. Lizzie James. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dibblee, Miss Bertha Dibblee. 

Mrs. Delia Spencer Caton. 

Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Eddy. 

Mrs. Helen Wells Field. 

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Gillette. 

Mrs. Z. M. Humphrey. 

Mr. D. P. Clapp and Family. 

Mrs. Captain G. D. Sigsbee. 

Mr. Hezekiah S. Russell. 

Mr. Franklin W. Russell. 

Miss Jane A. Russell. 

Mr. Harry R. Russell. 

Mr. Charles Coolidge. 

Rev. Eugene F. Hunt and Mrs. Hunt. 

Mr. Henry W. Billings. 

Miss Mary A. Billings. 

Mr. William G. Avery and Mrs. Avery. 

Rev. Wm. F. Avery. 

Rev. Charles S. Pease and Mrs. Pease. 

Rev. E. B. Hinchliffe. 

Rev. Charles B. Rice and Mrs. Rice. 

Prof. Charles E. Norton and Daughter. 

Mr. Arthur P. Delabarre and Mrs. Delabarre. 

Mrs. Belle H. Johnson. 

Miss Esther Owen. 

Mrs. Julia A. Ray. 

William G. Avery, Master of Ceremonies, made an appro- 
priate opening and welcoming address; and he directed the order 
of procedure. 



194 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Prayer was offered by Rev. Edward B. Hinchliffe, pastor of 
the Methodist church. Selections of Scripture were read by 
Rev. Charles S. Pease, pastor of the Baptist church. Rev. 
Charles B. Rice of Danvers, a native of Conway, gave the 
Address of Dedication which here follows: — 

Address of Mr. Rice. 
Mr. Chairman and Friends: — 

We are here again together in the town we love. An occasion 
of common interest and common gladness brings us from our 
homes far away or near at hand. Again the summer sun shines 
here upon us. Again we see around us the bending lines of all 
these graceful hills, clothed with woods and grasses to their 
tops. Again we hear the sound of the rapid river that never 
sleeps, and the voices of the sweet springs and brooks that run 
among the valleys. Again the place puts its spell upon us with 
all its changing aspects and its everlasting beauty. Here are 
the trees the fathers planted, or the forests the fathers spared. 
Here are the fields they tilled. Here are the houses they built — 
or the spots where the houses stood. Here they kept the Sabbath 
days, and met to worship God. Here are the graves in which 
they from whom our natural lives are sprung were laid in sorrow 
and in hope. Gathering around us here are the sentiments, 
the memories, and the imaginations that mark our human lot, 
the associations and influences of every sort that lighten our 
days and that hallow the life of man. 

Memorial observances are distinctive of man. The other 
animal tribes that occupy the earth with us, the inhabitants of 
the sea, the land and the air, have indeed their powers of recollec- 
tion. They know the places where they have found food or 
shelter or rest. They come back, some of them, from long 
migrations to their former homes. But they do not, so far as 
we can tell, keep in mind, or plan to keep in mind, the events of 
the past, or the associations they have had with their own 
companions in life who have ceased to be with them. We may 
not know all the thoughts they have. But we see no signs with 
them of gatherings upon days or spots that might be memorable. 
The beast and the bird have no burial rites; and they do not 
mark with flower or twig or trodden paths the places of their 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 195 

dead. The ties of natural kinship are not strong with them. 
In a few days or weeks the bird and beast forget parentage and 
chiklhood. They do not appear either to look forward to the 
coming times, or to plan in anything as if they wished to be 
themselves remembered after they w^ere gone. They have their 
grateful satisfactions in life; but they have not the thoughts 
that gather about them the events and the generations of the 
past, and the generations of the years that are to come. To us 
alone, of all the living things upon the globe, there is allotted 
this endowment of life in perpetual present remembrance and 
foresight, and in constant discernment of sentiments and sym- 
pathies and obligations and hopes that seem imperishable. 

Thus to-day with all these remembrances and anticipations 
gathering upon us, we offer thanks and grateful homage to the 
Author of universal life for these vast distinctions He has put 
upon us, and for this inestimable heritage of our human and 
rational being. We stand in our thoughts before Him; and we 
consecrate this memorial in His presence and powder. 

These memorial acts confirm the things most strong and 
hopeful in our human lives. They remove our thoughts from 
the immediate passing days and bear them out, somewhat, upon 
enduring sympathies and unchangeable hopes. From the failing 
foothold of our natural life we seem to look abroad upon the 
fields of immortality; and we draw nigh to the eternity of God. 

Such memorials testify also to the coming times of the most 
precious endowments of human life. They declare their purpose. 
They perpetuate the thoughts out of which they spring. Thus 
the man who plans and rears this building speaks to future 
times of things not perishable, of human affections, of human 
character and human hopes. Thus we who are permitted to 
join with him in these services of dedication join also in this 
testimony to the coming generations concerning the constant 
worth of all that is rational and sacred in man. 

This building speaks for its builder. There are wonderful 
instruments that catch and record the tones of the human voice, 
and that can bring them forth again in years and it may be in 
ages afterward to be heard. This building cannot so preserve 
the sounds alone of the natural voice. But its speech is more 
impressive than that of talking mechanisms. It is a recording 



196 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

instrument of reason and of affection and of generous public 
purpose, revealing now and transmitting to the coming times the 
sentiments out of which it sprang. It can take and hold forever 
upon itself its builder's thoughts, and give them forth to be re- 
newed forever upon the hearts of those that look upon it. 

The building testifies thus to its giver. It makes it to be 
known that he has cherished the remembrance of his home and 
the place of his early life. It shows his wisdom in the forming 
of a beneficent purpose, practically useful, and elevating and 
far reaching in its results. It records his enterprise, his capacity, 
his prosperity, which have enabled him to rear and fill and 
endow this edifice. 

The building testifies to the place where it is set. It does 
credit to the town. The community has had some share in its 
purpose and rearing. The first years of the giver's life were 
here, and here were the lives of his father and mother. The 
influences of every kind pervading this community have entered 
into their lives and his life. There are lands and places and social 
conditions where there could neither be such parents nor such 
a son. This building implies a recognition in the giver's mind 
of the worth of the community itself. It expresses, I am sure, 
a measure of obligation to the place in which his life was nurtured; 
and it is in a manner a memorial not only to those of his own 
family stock, but also in part to the men and the women — the 
living and the dead — of all these surrounding households. It 
represents churches and schools, laws, freedom and public order. 
It stands for the companionship of playmates, the kindness and 
helpfulness of neighbors and friends in all the daily intercourse 
and occupation of life. It commemorates all the quickening 
powers of that social state which has made these New England 
towns to be fountains of intelligence and enterprise and public 
force. It is a memorial of the things common and sacred with 
us all. 

The building testifies to the worthiness of the father and 
mother of the man who gives it. This is a primary purpose. 
This is the mark he has put himself upon it. It is erected and 
endowed in memory of John and Fidelia Nash Field. John 
Field was a man direct and distinct in purpose, of practiced sense 
and capacity. His wife was gracious, refined, and lovely. 



THE FIELD MEMORIAE I,1BRARV. 197 

Between them both they balanced the reasons and motives and 
forces of life. Together they gave stock, substance, sentiment, 
and quality to the family they nurtured and reared. From these 
parents these children had the first endowments and appoint- 
ments of life. This memorial which their son has raised bears 
witness to the worth of the inheritance he recei\ ed. It is a costly 
monument. The inheritance was of inestimable value. 

The building itself is befitting to its purpose. It is laid out 
for use and beauty and permanence. It is built in thoroughness, 
without stint of money. It shows the craft of the finest of all 
outward arts; and its lines in the lasting stone are firm and 
graceful. Its appointments within are tasteful, well ordered, 
and ample. Our state is adorned and enriched throughout by 
beautiful buildings, devoted to the same public uses, and bearing 
often similar personal memorials; but there are few among them 
that can be at all compared with this in appropriateness and 
completeness of elegance. Unlike to some costly structures the 
building befits its place, and the eye will soon learn to rest upon 
its strong and shapely lines as if it were itself a part of the wide 
surrounding natural beauty in the midst of which it stands. 
The building answers to its design. 

The library within will correspond also to the wise and 
generous purpose of its giver. The collection of books will be 
choice and sufficiently large. It will be well arranged and cared 
for and maintained. And it will be free to all for use. 

Books themselves belong naturally with memorial uses. 
Writings are things of remembrance. With a few visible signs 
they hold the whole story of the life of man. Letters are the 
chief memorials of our human state. They are the main record- 
ing instruments and depositories of all that man has known or 
believed or imagined concerning himself and concerning the 
range of universal being in which he is placed. Here upon these 
lettered shelves are the records of man, and the records of the 
things before man was. Here are the histories of the earth and 
the heavens. Here are the prophecies of the paths of the stars. 
Here upon these pages are the lights of kindling suns, and the 
shadows of the suns that have faded and that are to fade. Here 
about us are the living men of the earth, full themselves of 
memory and forecast. Here are the philosophers speaking of 



198 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

the things accounted by them eternal. Here are the orators 
stirring the hearts and bending or stiffening the purpose and the 
will. Here are the poets, awakening newly and forever the 
sentiments, the hopes, the imaginations that never die. Here 
are the souls of men, in their sadness, their fears and their con- 
cerns, in their affections and sympathies, in their weakness and 
their courage, their aspirations and their faith — mortal, but 
human and laying hold on immortality. It is a vast assemblage 
of moving and animating companionship. 

Into this association with all the recorded life and thought 
of mankind the people of these surrounding households, and all 
that shall come after them in future times, are to be here invited 
to enter. It is a benefit of immeasurable value which is thus 
brought within their reach. 

It is not necessary that all or the most of those that use this 
library should ever read all or any very large proportion of the 
books that it will contain. The quickening power of books may 
come of a few as truly as from many. For special purposes many 
are needed, volumes of reference and volumes of treasured facts 
and conclusions in many departments of knowledge. But for 
the inspiration and hope of life, not many. And of great books 
for such ends there are in fact but few. I do not know but one 
might find in a hundred volumes, the work of thirty men, the 
most of what is greatest and best. There is a pleasure and a use 
in a far wider range and variety. But the busy men and women, 
young or old, in these households, need not any of them miss 
the main advantage of this ample furnishing. They may be 
straitened for time, but they can take from these shelves enough 
for all the most needful stirring and widening of the mind, and 
for solace and rest and strength of heart. The keepers of this 
library will help, we may be sure, so far as they have occasion, in 
the selection of books to be read. And it may be expected that 
the teachers in our schools and the pastors of our churches, and 
all the wise men and women indeed among us, will be ready with 
aid to the same end that these stores of reading may be most 
effectively used. 

The library will be an attractive feature in our town. It will 
be a center of much life and thought. It will have its pleasing 
social uses. The new books will be watched for and talked of. 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 199 

The young people will be here. I do not suppose that these 
rooms themselves are intended to be places of resort, exactly, for 
conversation. But I presume that outside the doors these 
younger people will [)e allowed to speak in low tones, conversing 
altogether — as in Conway they naturally would — upon literary 
or patriotic themes. Perhaps they will be setting out early to 
add themselves to this collection with poetry and romance. It 
is likely that there will soon be set apart a shelf for Conway 
authors, and in time an alcove. I suppose a beginning might 
even now be made. In many ways and more and more the 
building will have a great place in all the life of the town. 

Mr. Field has made wise provision for the continuing main- 
tenance and care of the Memorial Library. Nothing that 
generous sagacity could suggest has been left undone. He 
himself will perform in the presence of this assembly the signifi- 
cant act by which this building will pass into the keeping of the 
appointed board of trust. His gift will be received with most 
grateful appreciation. It will bring long-continuing benefits to 
the people of our town. It will carry to distant times its testi- 
mony to his own filial affection, to his public spirit, and to him- 
self. And it will make return, we trust, in abundant satisfac- 
tions, that will still more enrich his own life and that will abide 
with him forever. 

Marshall Field then made formal presentation of the library 
in these words: — 

I am exceedingly gratified to see so many of the citizens of 
Conway here to take part in the dedication of this building. It 
is now fifty years since I left you, but I have never lost interest 
in the town or in its inhabitants. It is now my privilege and 
great pleasure to present this token of my friendship, as I now 
do, in memory of my father and mother; and to you, Mr. Hunt, 
in behalf of the trustees, I deliver the deed of the property, the 
endowment fund and the keys, with the hope that the library 
will give pleasure to all the inhabitants of Conway, that it will 
be a power for good and a lasting benefit to this community. 

Mr. Field was greeted with long-continuing applause. 

Rev. Eugene F. Hunt responded in behalf of the trustees and 
of the town. 



200 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Address of Mr. Hunt. 

To say that one rarely has the high privilege accorded to me 
to-day, is to speak very far short of the truth. Many of our 
towns have received library buildings at the hands of friends, 
but I do not know of another the recipient of such a princely gift 
as this we now accept in trust. The building itself, in material, 
in architecture, in finish, as a work of art, is, as you intended it 
should be, the finest of its size in New England. The endowment 
is abundant to meet all necessary expenses for care, repairs, and 
the purchase of books for an unlimited term of years to come. 
The 6,000 volumes already upon the shelves have been so care- 
fully selected that they have the approval of the best librarians 
in the country. This, in a word, is the legacy you leave to your 
native town, in memory of your father and mother. 

And what does all this mean, such a building, such an endow- 
ment, such a collection of books? Emerson has said, "Give me 
a book, health and a June day and I will make the pomp of kings 
ridiculous." And Mrs. Browning has declared, "No youth can 
be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good 
books." But best of all, is the motto you, sir, have given us and 
caused to be placed in full view as we enter the building, "He 
that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome 
counselor, a cheerful companion, or an effectual comforter." 

Any number of beautiful things might be said about the gift 
and the thoughtful generosity that prompted it, all of them true, 
but the genuineness of gratitude, the extent of appreciation, are 
always best shown not by what we say, but by what we do. 

After the provision you have made, it goes without the saying, 
that the work about the building and in the building and every 
way connected with the building will be religiously attended to, 
so that we shall always be in a presentable condition whenever 
you and your friends may come, as we hope you often will come. 
This, of course, is not a mark of gratitude, any more than the 
faithful performance of any other task for which one is paid, is 
a mark of gratitude. It is simply plain duty. But there are 
ways in which our feelings can be shown, our appreciation declare 
itself. The pains we take with our other public buildings and 
their surroundings, with our homes and their surroundings; the 
care to make our streets and little squares attractive ; the attention 



THE FIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY. 201 

we give to our schools, that our youth may become intelHgent 
readers and lovers of books; the effort we put forth to interest 
all classes in this varied, extensive, and choice collection, so that 
"free to all" shall have a meaning; the careful, conservative, 
impartial management of the affairs of the library — these things 
will best reveal the genuineness of our gratitude, the full extent 
of our appreciation. 

With a hope, sir, that all these conditions will be so fully 
realized, that in years to come you will look upon this as one of 
the best investments you have ever made, with a determination 
that this shall be so, as far as the supervision of the trustees goes, we 
receive in trust for the whole town, without distinction, this beauti- 
fully constructed classic building, with its well e(]uipped library. 

Mr. Avery extended the thanks of the trustees and the 
community to Mr. Coolidge for the satisfactory manner in which, 
as one of the architects, he had superintended the construction 
of the building. 

Rev. William F. Avery offered the prayer of benediction. 

The assembly then marched in procession with music to the 
tent where caterer Barr of Springfield had prepared ample and 
choice supplies of food. More than twelve hundred people were 
gathered about the tables here spread. 

The bearing and manner of Mr. Field throughout the day 
were altogether unostentatious and altogether dignified. This 
attracted attention the more in that it was meant to attract 
none. It remains in the minds of the people of the town and of 
all that were gathered on that day that the most pleasing and 
the most significant feature of the occasion was not the costly 
library and its equipment, but the man himself — quiet, self- 
composed, and strong — by whom the gift was made. It is a 
grateful office here to record this universal satisfaction with Mr. 
Field's own personal bearing, and to prolong its remembrance. 

It has been brought to mind, also, in connection with Mr. 
Field's care for his native town, that whenever a man from 
Conway called upon him in his place of business, he would find 
space even in the most crowded days for courteous greetings and 
friendly inquiries. Mr. Field was not a man of business only. 
He was a man of memories and friendly instincts. And thus 
his own memory abides in friendliness and honor. 



Chapter IX. 
MILITARY HISTORY. 

By Rev. Charles Stanley Pease. 
THE REVOLUTION. 

The military history of Conway began with the struggle for 
American Independence. 

The inhabitants at Boston, under the leadership of Samuel 
Adams, had voted to appoint a "Committee of Correspondence 
consisting of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the 
Colonists, and of this province in particular, as men, as Chris- 
tians and as subjects; and to communicate and publish the same 
to the several towns." 

During the year 1774, the town officials of Conway received 
a communication from the Boston Committee of Correspondence 
and at the first town meeting thereafter on the 5th of August, the 
matter was acted upon. Lieut. Thomas French, Deacon Samuel 
Wells, Robert Oliver, Nathan Gould, and Consider Arms were 
elected a committee to prepare a suitable answer to the letter. 
The town meeting was adjourned without action to the latter 
part of the week in order to allow the committee time to prepare 
suitable response. Four days after the first meeting the com- 
mittee reported at a special town, meeting called for the purpose 
as follows: "At a legal town meeting of the inhabitants of Conway 
held on the first day of August, 1774, Lieut. Thomas French 
chosen moderator. After having read and considered the letters 
sent us from Boston respecting the rights of the colonies and of 
the infringement of those rights, we fully agree with you that 
these rights and privileges are invaded, and of this province in 
particular. We shall join with you in all lawful and salutary 
measures for the recovery of those inestimable privileges wrested 
from us and firmly to secure those that remain; for we are sen- 
sible that should we renounce our liberty and privileges, we 
should renounce quality of men and the rights of humanity. We 
freely pay our proportion of money desired by the General Court 
in order to the support of the Honorable Committee of Congress 
greatly relying and depending on their resolutions." The town 



MILITARY HISTORY. 203 

clerk, Oliver Wetmore, was instructed to send the report of the 
town's action to the Boston Committee of Correspondence. At 
this same meeting, Consider Arms was selected to represent the 
town at the Provincial Congress to be held at Concord the fol- 
lowing month. The first week of September another special 
town meeting was called and a committee of thirteen was selected 
to correspond with the other towns of the province with regard 
to obtaining their liberties. The committee consisted of Deacon 
Samuel Wells, Deacon Joel Baker, Lieut. Thomas French, Jonas 
Rice, Oliver Wetmore, Cyrus Rice, Consider Arms, Robert 
Oliver, Jonas Dickinson, Israel Gates, Josiah Boyden, Elisha 
Clark, and Alexander Oliver and they were also empowered to 
regulate the town with respect to mobs for the space of fourteen 
days. They were requested to lay before the town further 
articles in relation to the fast approaching crisis. As matters 
began to present a more threatening aspect the selectmen were 
directed to provide two barrels of powder and lead and flints for 
a town stock of ammunition. At the March town meeting, 1775, 
it was voted to allow the minute men one barrel of powder and 
lead and flints to be in readiness when they are called upon to 
march to Boston in defense of this country. Also that the town 
would provide forty bayonets and the same number of cartridge 
boxes. The town also voted to pay to each soldier $40 out of the 
treasury on their being called on to march. The selectmen were 
instructed to see that the above resolutions were fully carried out. 
The second Tuesday in April, the town selected Capt. Daniel 
Dunham as delegate to the Provincial Congress at Concord. He 
was also selected as the delegate in May following. On the 
morning succeeding the battle at Lexington the Massachusetts 
Committee of Safety sent a communication to the several towns 
in the state as follows: "We conjure you, by all that is dear, by 
all that is sacred; we beg and entreat you, as you will answer it to 
your country, to your consciences, and above all, to God Himself, 
that you will hasten, and encourage, by all possible means, the 
enlistment of men to form the army; and send them forward to 
headquarters at Cambridge with that expedition which the vast 
importance and instant urgency of the affair demanded." 

The citizens of Conway promptly responded. All arrange- 
ments had been made in anticipation of the expected summons 



204 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

and on April 22, Capt. Robert Oliver led forth the following 
"Minute Men": Ebenezer Allen, Caleb Beals, Lamberton 
Cooper, Daniel Davidson, Reuben Dickinson, Jonathan Dunham, 
Abel Dinsmore, Gershom Farnsworth, James Gilmore, John 
Goodale, Matthew Graves, Robert Hamilton, Jason Harrington, 
Josiah Horton, Ebenezer Hart, Aaron How, Sherebiah Lee, 
Malachi Maynard, Daniel Newhall, Thomas Nutting, Alexander 
Oliver, Aber Packard, Joseph Rice, Benjamin Whitney, and 
Jonathan Whitney. Abel Dinsmore and Jonathan Whitney 
served as sergeants. Both became captains in the Continental 
Army. Gershom Farnsworth and Aber Packard were corporals 
and Alexander Oliver was the clerk of the company. The men 
reported for duty at Cambridge where they were assigned to a 
regiment commanded by Col. Samuel Williams of Warwick. 
Other enlistments followed throughout the war as men were 
needed. Dr. Rice in his review of the first century of the town, 
the second chapter of this book, tells us that every able-bodied 
man took some part in the war for longer or shorter periods. 
Records of enlistments were not carefully kept by the town and 
the exact number is not known. The following names are 
taken chiefly from the published state records of Massachusetts 
soldiers and sailors in the Revolutionary W'ar: Job Abbott, 
William Abbott, Amos Allen, Ebenezer Allen, Lucius AUis, 
Elisha Amsden, Isaac Amsden, Simeon Amsden, John Attset, 
Joseph Attset, Selah Baldan, William Bancroft, Solomon Bard- 
well, Samuel Barnes, Moses Bascom, Caleb Beals, Jon- 
athan Belding, Selah Belding, John Bond, John Boyden, Josiah 
Boyden, Simeon Bigelow, Edward Burgess, Walter Boardman, 
Patrick Brown, Samuel Brown, Jonathan Bruce, Daniel Butter- 
field, Thomas Cathcart, Richard Caton, Mosfes Childs, Judah 
Clark, Corp. Samuel Cooley, Sergt. Lamberton Cooper, John 
Crittenden, Lieut. Benjamin Crockett, Joseph Cross, Sergt. 
Daniel Davidson, Maj. James Davis, Elias Dewey, Eli Dickinson, 
James Dickinson, Corp. Joel Dickinson, Reuben Dickinson, 
Corp. Jonathan Dunham, Capt. Abel Dinsmore, Lieut. Abiather 
Eastman, Corp. Gershom Farnsworth, Sergt. William Farns- 
worth, Prince Freeman, Capt. Thomas French, Israel Gates, 
William Gates, Corp. John Gilmore, James Gilmore, Alexander 
Glover, John Goodale, Fifer Nathan Goodale, Solomon Goodale, 



MILITARY HISTORY. ^ 205 

Matthew Graves, Samuel Gray, Lieut. Robert Hamilton, Jason 
Harrington, Josiah Horton, Corp. Solomon Hayward, Ebenezer 
Hart, Aaron How, Jaazaniah How, Solomon Howard, Christo- 
pher Huntress, Joseph Huxford, Eber Isbel, John Kelley, Shel- 
burne Lawrence, Jeremiah Leach, Sherebiah Lee, James Lock. 
Henry Lovejoy, William Mallery, William Marble, William 
Merrill, Oliver May, Malachi Maynard, Asa Merritt, Simeon 
Merritt, Isaac Nelson, Daniel Newhall, Thomas Nutting, Lieut. 
Alexander Oliver, Maj. Robert Oliver, Corp. Aber Packard, 
Ephraim Paine, Lieut. Joel Parsons, Thomas Purdie, Jonas Rice, 
Joseph Rice, Luke Rice, Joseph Toby, Ebenezer Tolman, Elipha- 
let Wells, Bela Wetmore, Benjamin Wheat, Benjamin W'hitney, 
Capt. Jonathan Whitney, Samuel Wilson, James Wing, Josiah 
Wing, John Wright, and Samuel Wright. 

We do not need to repeat what has been so well told l^y Dr. 
Rice regarding the contentions with the Tories, the financial 
difficulties, and Conway's connection with the Shays' rebellion. 
Capt. Abel Dinsmore, minute man and leading patriot, became 
so much involved in the insurrectionary disturbances following 
the war that his arrest with Shays and others was ordered by the 
governor of the state. After the rebellion those who had partic- 
ipated in it returned to their farms and thereafter conducted 
themselves as law-abiding citizens. At the first annual town 
meeting following the close of the trouble and for some years 
afterwards, the newly elected town officials were required to 
take a specially worded oath of allegiance to the stale and nation. 

THE WAR OF 1812. 
The declaration of war in 1812 did not meet with Conway's 
approval and in that year Elisha Billings and John Bannister 
represented the town at a peace convention held in Northampton. 
Yet in July, 1812, a petition was circulated in town of which the 
following was the preamble: "Whereas the United States are at 
present engaged in a war with Great Britain and a united support 
of the National Government has become more than ev^er necessary 
in order that the war may be terminated by a happy and honor- 
able peace; and whereas a conspiracy is believed to exist to sepa- 
rate the states and thus to involve the country in a civil war. 
Now therefore, we do solemnly pledge ourselves to our country 



206 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

individually that we will do all in our power to support the national 
government, that w^e will obey the orders of the President of the 
United States, when called upon to do it, to support the laws; 
and that we will discountenance and oppose any attempt to 
dissolve the union." This petition was signed by one hundred 
and forty-three citizens. In 1814 England having threatened 
to devastate the Atlantic coast, Governor Strong of Massachu- 
setts issued a call for the state militia. Several Conway men went 
in the Hampshire regiment commanded by Col.. Thomas Longley 
of Hawley and Maj. Asa Rowland of Conway. They saw no 
fighting, however, and soon returned in peace to their homes. 

D-uring all this period and for many years afterwards military 
training was given to all of military age. Lists of citizens as we 
find them in church and town records during the first century 
show many titles of army officers won for the most part on the 
local training grounds. In 1845 the town voted to sell its "guns 
and munitions of war" at public auction. 

THE CIVIL WAR. 

Fort Sumter capitulated on April 14, 1861. The following 
day President Lincoln issued a call for troops. Governor An- 
drews of Massachusetts had been anticipating for weeks some 
such emergency and within three days dispatched three regi- 
ments to Washington. Town meetings were held everywhere as 
soon as they could be legally called. In Conway the selectmen 
posted warrants on the 23d of April and the meeting was duly 
held on May 1st. Dr. E. D. Hamilton was chosen moderator 
and, according to the purpose of the meeting, a committee was 
appointed to secure the enlistment of soldiers. The following 
citizens were chosen by ballot to serve on this committee: Edward 
Burke, Rev. G. M. Adams, Dr. E. D. Hamilton, John Ingham, 
and Gurdon Edgerton. ■ It was voted to furnish each volunteer 
with an outfit not to exceed twenty-five dollars and to pay him 
six dollars a month for the period of a year. Soldiers' families 
were to receive, at the discretion of the committee, from six to 
ten dollars a month for their support. 

Forty-two of the Conway young men volunteered the first 
summer. They enlisted principally in three regiments, viz.: 
the 10th and 31st Infantry and the 1st Cavalry. All were three- 



MILITARY HISTORY. 207 

year regiments and saw hard service. The 10th Regiment was 
recruited in the five western counties and went out under the 
command of Col. Henry S. Briggs of Pittsfield, who was sub- 
sequently promoted brigadier general for gallant conduct on the 
field. The 10th Regiment was attached to the Army of the 
Potomac and participated in all of the great battles fought in 
that locality including Gettysburg. The 31st was also a Western 
Massachusetts regiment, at first designated as the "Western 
Bay-State" Regiment. It was raised under orders from General 
Butler, who sailed with this regiment from Boston and selected 
it as his bodyguard in the occupation of New Orleans. It was 
actively engaged in opening the lower Mississippi River. The 
1st Regiment of Cavalry was recruited at Readsville, Mass., and 
like the 10th Infantry was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. 
The year 1862 was perhaps the darkest year of the war. All 
summer the tide of battle appeared to be against the North. 
The president in July appealed for three hundred thousand 
troops and a month later called for three hundred thousand more. 
Conway held a special town meeting on July 23, when it was 
voted unamimously "that the selectmen be, and hereby are 
instructed to offer and pay the sum of one hundred dollars to 
each volunteer from town not exceeding our quota." This 
bounty was increased in January, 1865, to one hundred and 
twenty-five dollars. Fifty-seven men from Conway enlisted in 
1862 in response to the appeals of President Lincoln. Eight 
enlisted in July in the 37th Regiment, recruited at "Camp 
Briggs," Pittsfield. Nine went to recruit the 1st Massachusetts 
Cavalry already in the field. Thirty-four enlisted in the 52d 
Regiment recruited in Scptcmlicr at "Camp Miller," Green- 
field. The 52d Regiment was commanded by Col. H. S. Green- 
leaf of Shelburne Flails and was composed almost wholly of men 
from Franklin and Hampshire counties. Nearly all of the Con- 
way men went into Company D under Capt. F. M. Patrick. 
Captain Patrick soon resigned because of a severe illness and 
was succeeded by Lieut. Horace Hosford also of Conway. Oliver 
P. Edgerton of Conway became 2d Lieutenant, and four Conway 
men served as corporals in the same company. This regiment 
was assigned to the Department of the Gulf and with the 31st 
assisted in opening the Mississippi River. 



208 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Conway is credited by the Adjutant General of Massachusetts 
with one hundred and fifty-eight enUstments, which he says was 
a surplus of eleven over and above all demands. This number, 
however, includes re-enlistments and thirty-one non-residents 
who were hired by the town at various times to fill its quota. 
The following list from the town records gives the names of one 
hundred and six men who were residents of Conway and person- 
ally represented the town in the great conflict: — 

10th Regiment. — William H. Adams, J. Dickinson AUis, 
Alonzo Bates, John P. Clark, Welcome F. Cone, Edward R. 
Gardner, Horace W. Graves, F. E. Hartwell, E. G. Hayden, 
W. Rollin Smith, Lathrop Smith, Alonzo H. Warren. 

31st Regiment. — Adelbert Bailey, Liberty Burnett, Francis 
A. Clary, S. H. Dyer, John W. Goland, Patrick Hayes, Fred D. 
Howland, James F. Hunter, John Island, Gordon H. Johnson, 
James Johnson, William C. Maynard, Edward Metivier, Pliny 
F. Nims, S. R. Walker, Sylvester M. Ware, C. George Wells, 
John White, Charles F. Wright. 

1st Massachusetts Cavalry. — George A. Abell, Henry C. 
Allen, George F. Arms, Elias F. Bradford, E. A. Burnham, 
Lieut. George W. Flagg, Hiram A. Gray, Eliphalet L. Hall, 
Baxter Harding, Tyler Harding, Albion F. Hubbard, John W\ 
Jackson, Orrin D. Remington, Charles M. Smith, Henry A. 
Stearns, Samuel W'are, Henry J. Wilder. 

37th Massachusetts Regiment. — \\'illiam H. Averill, Samuel 
Bigelow, E. A. Blood, Lyman A. Bradford, Otis F. Childs, George 
C. Johnson, Lucius W'. Merrifield, Fred E. Rowe, Sumner Warner. 

52d Regiment. — W^illiam D. AUis, A. Judson Andrews, Na- 
thaniel Bartlett, John W. Bradford, George D. Braman, William 
H. Clapp, Charles E. Crittenden, George F. Crittenden, Lieut. 
O. P. Edgerton, W^ilson G. Field, Manley Guilford, E. W. Ham- 
ilton, Medad Hill, Charles A. Hocum, Capt. Horace Hosford, 
Marcus Howland, M. S. Jenkins, Franklin B. Lee, Charles Ma- 
comber, Henry F. Macomber, Patrick Manning, Henry C. Mun- 
son, Henry Nye, Capt. F. M. Patrick, E. W. Richardson, Oscar 
Richardson, William D. Sanderson, H. G. Scott, George Shep- 
pard, Alonzo O. Sikes, James S. Stebbins, Chauncey G. Town- 
send, William Townsend, Jr., William Watson. 

20th Regiment. — Henry Bowman. 



MILITARY HISTORY. 209 

27th Regiment. — George H. Smith, J. W. Smith. 

32d Regiment. — Lieut. James H. Clapp. 

34th Regiment. — Patrick Gallivan, Peter Hackett, Ira N. 
Hitchcock. 

38th Regiment. — Silas N. Peterson. 

57th Regiment. — John Connelly, Dennis Lee. 

7th Co. Heavy Artillery. — Horace Dill. 

2d New York Infantry. — Fred Wrigley. 

5th New York Cavalry. — George W. Dinsmore, John Lanigar. 

Connecticut Regiment. — Charles Richardson. 

From this list it will be seen that Conway furnished five com- 
missioned officers. 

The cost to the town for the enlistment and equipment of 
soldiers during the war was S9,350. The aid furnished to the 
families of soldiers, afterwards refunded by the state, was $5,228, 
making 814,578 actually raised and expended for the expenses of 
the war. In addition to this the Ladies' Aid Society sent supplies 
for the army and the hospitals to the value of $4,600. This 
large contribution in money must have seemed trifling, however, 
in comparison with the contribution in men. The following died 
upon the field of battle or of wounds and disease contracted in 
the service: J. Dickinson Allis, William D. Allis, William H. 
Averill, Nathaniel Bartlett, Ebenezer T. Blood, Francis A. 
Clary, Welcome F. Cone, George W. Dinsmore, Edward R. Gard- 
ner, John W. Goland, Manley Guilford, Marcus Howland, 
Albion F. Hubbard, John Lanigar, Dennis Lee, Silas N. Peterson, 
Harrison G. Scott, Alonzo O. Sikes, Lathrop Smith, James S. 
Stebbins, Samuel Ware, Sumner Warner, Henry Q. Wilder, and 
Fred Wrigley. When the Conway Post of the G. A. R. was 
formed in 1884 it was named in honor of one of these "fallen 
heroes," Francis A. Clary, who was killed at Port Hudson, June 
14, 1863. Francis Amsden Clary, son of Deacon John Clary, 
was born in Conway, August 19, 1836. When the war began he 
was a student in Amherst College preparing himself to be a 
missionary to China. He enlisted in the fall of 1861, in the 31st 
Regiment, of which he was made color-sergeant, January 5, 1862. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hopkins of the regiment writing of Clary's 
death paid him the following tribute: "He was early selected 
for color-sergeant of the regiment on account of his soldierly 



210 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

bearing and the accuracy of his marching. From the first every 
one felt that the colors were safe in the hands of Clary; for there 
was in him that quiet but intelligent determination which 
stamped him as a gallant man even before his bravery was ever 
tested. He was reserved as a sacrifice for the last fight of that 
siege which finally opened the Mississippi River." 

The year 1862 was the centennial of the settlement of the 
town and it had been planned to hold a celebration in October 
of that year. But as the time approached the people were in 
no mood for a celebration and none was held until the centen- 
nial of incorporation in 1867. The country's peril and the 
thought of so many loved ones at the front in mortal danger 
took away the voice of song and gladness. It was a case of 
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted. 
The citizens of Conway at their annual town meetings appro- 
priate a sum of money for the observance of Memorial Day 
which is still kept reverently with tender memories. 

THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 
On the Uth of April, 1898, President McKinley sent his 
message to Congress recommending ai-med intervention in Cuban 
afTairs. The 2d Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry began at 
once to recruit its numbers to a complete enrollment. Six young 
men from Conway offered to enlist but only one passed the phys- 
ical examination. This was Peter A. Greenia, who was received 
into Company L at Greenfield, commanded by Capt. Frederick 
E. Pierce. The company was called into service on May 3, and 
joined the other companies of the 2d Regiment at the state 
muster grounds, at South Framingham, from which place the 
regiment took its departure for Cuba on May 12. It joined in 
the advance movement against Santiago and suffered heavy loss 
at the battle of El Caney. After suffering in the malarious 
camps of Cuba for many weeks the 2d Regiment was taken on 
board of the transport "Mobile" and on August 19 arrived at 
Montauk, L. I., with 306 men on the sick list. Among the sick 
was Peter Greenia, who died September 1, at his home in Conway, 
of typhoid malaria, caused by lack of food in the advance toward 
Santiago and exposure in a weakened condition to the unhealthful 
climate. 



MIIJTARY HISTORY. 211 

Conway was represented in the occupation of the PhiHj)pine 
Islands by Leo Paul Furkey, who enlisted in the spring of 1899, 
and was mustered into the service, June 12, 1899, at Albany, N. Y. 
He was assigned to Company G of the 17th U. S. Regiment of 
Infantry, which he joined at Manila, in August of the same year. 
He at once saw active service in skirmishing and resisting night 
attacks, receiving a wound in the wrist from the thrust of a 
bolo knife. He remained in the Philippines three years, part of 
which time he was detailed to the postal service. He returned 
to this country in 1902, and received honorable discharge at 
the U. S. military station, at Vancouver, Wash. He arrived in 
Conway on June 18, and called it the happiest day of his life 
when he saw the village from the top of Parsons Hill. Other 
Conway boys have served from time to time in the standing 
army. Myron Dorset, Company H, 10th U. S. Infantry 1913-16, 
helped to guard the Canal Zone, and Dan Brady, who enlisted 
December, 1914, in the 23d U. S. Infantry, was with the 2d 
Battalion of Engineers in the notable pursuit of Francisco Villa 
into Mexico, in 1916. 



Chapter X. 
USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 

Reminiscences Written in 1900 by Rev. William Fisher Avery. 

I have been asked to trace briefly the history of those 
famiUes most conspicuous for their usefulness, in the first two 
or three generations of the town. We must pass by a far greater 
company of those who have been truly useful in the home, the 
schools, and the churches, but less observed. We have in 
Conway now many whole-hearted workers, equal perhaps to 
any who have gone before them. But my task refers rather to 
previous generations, whose memory is growing dim and in 
danger of being altogether lost to most of their townsmen. 

Let our rapid survey of one district after another have its 
beginning at the house of God. 

In imagination we will go back sixty years and join the 
long row of plain, but full wagons, as they leave the old Congre- 
gational church. It is taking the winding road toward Cricket 
Hill. An equally long black line is seen across the valley, 
crawling up Field's Hill, and another, somewhat smaller, worming 
its way over as steep pitches to the east. 

"Cricket Hill!" What a queer name to be linked in all its 
history to one district of the town just because some early 
hunters or surveyors were annoyed by crickets when camping 
for the night. But up Cricket Hill we are toiling on a warm 
Sabbath afternoon, the women and small children riding, numer- 
ous boys and men walking, and some with coats hanging upon 
their arms. It will take many of us an hour to reach our 
homes, hungry, but lifted up, if spiritually minded, by the 
weighty truths impressed upon us in the two preaching services 
and Sabbath School. I loved to walk in the rear of the carriages 
with the men, and hear their discussions of great gospel truths. 
Up three or four long hills we have been passing in diminished 
numbers to the first house of Captain Dunham, four or five 
carriages having turned to the right, on the road to the Eldridges' 
and Crittendens'. Captain Dunham was a lame, but energetic 
man. One tells me he would mend his fence on horseback. 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 213 

patiently drawing a rail up and balancing it before him and 
then as perseveringly ending it off to the place desired. I 
remember Mrs. Dunham as a woman of large frame, benignant 
face, and, at the neighborhood prayer meeting, always helpful 
to it in her quiet way. It does not surprise me to learn that 
two daughters went out from this plain farmhouse as wives 
of Congregational ministers. Louisa married Rev. Lucien 
Farnham, Olivia, Rev. Romulus Barnes. Tracing the stream 
from thai hillsidr fountain a little further, I am delighted, 
when told that Mrs. Farnham 's daughter became the wife of 
Owen Lovejoy, a most valiant champion for freedom, whose 
blood was shed because he pleaded the cause of the slaves so 
effectively. I spoke of Mrs. Dunham as a helper in that neigh- 
borhood prayer meeting, kept up, on Tuesday evenings, for a 
generation or more. Ascending the hill from her house we 
come to the place of those meetings, and of the district school. 
It stood upon the top of a great hill, with wide views, and steep 
descent to the east down which our boys' sleds glided in the 
winter as did our skates upon the smooth ice of the pond in 
the rear. But the gathering of so goodly a company of neigh- 
bors every week for worship was a power to cement and uplift 
the whole neighborhood, as truly as did the day school in another 
way. 

Going west from this point half a mile, to the next hilltop, 
we come to where Malachi Maynard established himself in 1768, 
one year after the town was incorporated. He is described, 
in the address of Charles Rice at our Centennial, as strong 
bodily and mentally, a sturdy Puritan, who came from Westboro, 
in Worcester County, Mass. He enjoyed only six weeks of 
schooling in boyhood, but was made treasurer of the town for 
twenty-six years, and was sent to the Legislature three years in 
succession — a noble, reliable, and useful man. One son became 
a lawyer, in Central New York, vigorous, like his father. A 
daughter married Zelotes Bates, and lived long upon the old 
place. With them were two maiden sisters, Lucy and Anne 
Maynard. They were generous givers to Mount Holyoke Semi- 
nary at its very beginning. A dreadful calamity came upon 
this whole household. I remember it well, though a mere child. 
We were returning from church on Thanksgiving day, when, 



214 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

as our wagons came in sight of Mr. Bates' home, the flames 
were seen just bursting from it. A fire had been left to bake 
the Thanksgiving dinner, while the family were faithful to the 
public duties of the day. Alas, it burned down the house 
leaving little but some nicely baked potatoes in their large 
bin. A few silver dollars laid aside for the seminary were 
drawn out of the ashes, considerably marred. These two sisters 
went to work and patiently earned the remainder of the two 
hundred dollars, which had been subscribed, not permitting the 
proposed school to suffer from their loss. Those scorched coins 
were laid up in the archives of the seminary. 

Going a quarter of a mile west from here, we then came 
to the house of Deacon John Avery, about as early a settler, 
from Dedham, Mass. He spent a long, useful life there, dying 
September 1, 1847. Look now at the precious influences for 
good which went out afar from his family. His eldest son, 
named John, in youth fell from ^ tree, and drove a sharp stub 
far up into his foot. This very painful wound proved a rich 
blessing. It laid him by for a long time, in which his attention 
was drawn to reading. A thirst for education was aroused. 
He graduated at Yale, and at length became an honor to the 
Episcopal church, laboring successfully in North Carolina and 
then in Alabama. He never attained the dignity of bishop, as 
some of his northern friends supposed, but he became a fine 
linguist, mastering several languages and accumulating a valu- 
able library of about five thousand volumes, some of them rare 
treasures. In the midst of great usefulness he was suddenly 
snatched away, leaving a widow with one son and two daughters. 
It was with very limited means that the children struggled up 
to a good education and positions of great usefulness. William 
became a physician, Fanny married the Episcopal rector in 
Greensboro, Ala., and Mary has lived in her family and taught 
a select school in the place, to the present time. Greensboro 
was the home of the Hobsons. There was trained by a noble 
Christian mother, Richmond Hobson, who periled his life to bottle 
up Cervera's fleet, in Santiago harbor. The Hobson children 
have been in Mary's private school and Sabbath School class, and 
under the preaching of Fanny's husband. Richmond's younger 
brother was asked, if it was not about time for him to leave 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 215 

Mary Avery's Sabbath School class, but replied, "I want only one 
teacher." All through his youth Richmond Hobson manifested 
the same qualities of daring courage and generosity which he 
displayed at Santiago. Soon after that exploit the Outlook had 
a sketch of him in which it justly remarked that if there were 
more ministers like Rector Cobbs there would be more heroes 
like Richmond Hobson. At a dinner given in honor of Hobson, 
Mary Avery, who happened to be in New York at the time, was 
given the first seat at the hero's side. I then conclude that 
our country is much indebted to influences which had their 
source in the firstborn son of this early settler on Cricket Hill. 

A daughter, named Rebecca Avery, married a farmer of 
Charlemont, Mass., whose name was Silas Hawks. Of several 
children only one lived to maturity. 

After the early death of the father, this William Hawks and 
his mother removed to Williamsburg, Mass. He became deacon 
of the Congregational church there and prominent in all its 
Christian work. Being of rather slender constitution, he was 
unable to do much physical labor, but was a great reader and 
no mean thinker. Book after book was added to his private 
library. With painstaking care he fostered the Utile library in 
the village, thus helping much to turn public attention to the 
great advantages of a larger one. One of its citizens at length 
gave a munificent sum for the purpose. A handsome library 
building has been erected, with cases well filled. A son of Dea- 
con William Hawks was selected to give the address at the dedica- 
tion of this valuable library. Our neighboring town will readily 
admit that through Deacon John Avery's daughter, Rebecca, 
a refreshing stream of blessings has flowed to her also. 

A boy, named W^illiam Fisher, was taken into John Avery's 
home, and helped in education, until he became a Congrega- 
tional minister. I conclude he was a man of influence, or my 
parents would not have named me William Fisher, in his honor. 

Recently I visited the spot where stood my grandfather's 
home. Only an old shed was standing, at a little distance from 
the cellar hole, and the flourishing lilac bushes back of it; I 
discovered the old well and carefully pushing aside the half 
decayed boards upon it, dropped in a stone. The sound showed 
that it plunged into deep water. I said to myself, as this well, 



216 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

dug a century and a quarter ago, yields refreshing supplies still, 
so healing streams are yet flowing afar, from this early home, 
to bless many communities. Two other children of Deacon 
John Avery I wish to mention, in connection with their own 
homes, who will greatly increase the fulfillment to this good 
man of the promise, "His seed shall be blessed." 

But now look a quarter of a mile north, to where Samuel 
Crittenden planted himself as early as 1772. In my boyhood 
his son Medad was filling his place, an old man with silvery 
locks but still erect, though very deaf. He used to stand close 
at Dr. Harris' side in the pulpit, and, with upturned ear, try 
to catch as much as possible of the sermon. It was a beautiful 
sight, for everybody loved and revered him, as like one of the 
ancient patriarchs, loaned to us for a time. In the midst of 
our Centennial addresses, his wife, Mary B. Crittenden, was 
presented to the great audience, as lacking only sixty-six days 
of being one hundred years old. She still lived almost two 
years. 

Turning from this point a mile southward, we come to the 
place of another early settler, Elijah Nash. I thought my 
father far enough from church, the roads being so steep and 
stony. But this neighbor, next south, had to go almost half a 
mile further and up a steep hill. When the young wife was 
brought to this out-of-the-way place, to be cleared by hand toil, 
it may have seemed like throwing her life away. How little 
society could she expect outside her own family! Perhaps that 
concentrated the energies of those parents more upon the training 
of their own little ones. The rocky pastures, narrow mowings, 
and the distance from the village may have made those children, 
as they grew toward maturity, aspire to wider spheres of activity. 
Those parents could not have foreseen the greatness of the 
harvest for which they were sowing. I find Rev. John A. Nash 
one on the list of Congregational ministers who originated in 
Conway. I think I am safe in saying that he came from this 
home. He was born in 1789,. graduated at Amherst College in 
1824, being thirty-five, married Mary, the eldest daughter of 
Scotto Clark, over on Field's Hill, and lived till 1877, or eighty- 
eight years. What may not such a life have accomplished ! His 
son Henry graduated at the same college in 1851 and for twenty 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 217 

years taught a boys' school on Mount Pleasant, a little north 
of his alma mater. 

The daughter Minerva of this early settler married Rev. 
Henry Eastman. They went as home missionaries to Michigan. 
One pastorate was at Somerset. When at length her husband 
died, Mrs. Eastman removed to Ann Arbor and educated her 
two sons amid its fine literary privileges. Afterwards one 
studied at West Point and became an officer in the army, the 
other became a physician. Mrs. Eastman's last years, spent 
in her native town, were a benediction to all about her. Her 
sister, Fidelia, married Mr. John Field and was the mother 
of Marshall Field. 

Nor are these all the streams of influence which have flowed 
from that distant farmhouse. Within my memory Elijah Nash 
removed to the next town, Williamsburg, and a family by the 
name of Meekins came in his place. From that second home 
came Emory, who became partner in the great firm of Meekins, 
Packard & Wheat, Springfield, Mass. At his recent death very 
hearty tributes were paid his incorruptible integrity and Chris- 
tian activity by different papers of the city. Every Conway 
man read with pride of such worth and usefulness in one of its 
sons. 

Let us now retrace our steps half a mile to the plain farm- 
house of Deacon Joseph Avery, son of Deacon John Avery, 
already mentioned. He married in 1788, Sylvia, sister of Deacon 
John Clary, living at the other end of the town. Their happy 
married life continued forty years and my father reached his 
seventy-eighth year. Not long before the death of Samuel 
Harris I met him in New Haven, when he at once alluded with 
much warmth, to my parents, remarking, "^'our father's biog- 
raphy ought to ha\e been written," and "\-our mother would 
have graced any circle in the land." For nine years he was 
their pastor and intimate associate in ijll Christian work. I am 
asked to speak freely of this Joseph Avery, as one of Conway's 
truly useful men. I think I have never met persons more 
thoroughly consecrated to the upbuilding of Christ's kingdom 
than my father and mother. The brief sentence upon our 
mother's tombstone expresses her life purpose, "Live for Christ." 
Some might say that the father in this small and plain house 



218 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

ought to have done a little more to enlarge it, and make the 
entertainment of cultivated company easier for the wife and 
daughters. But father would sometimes say, "When we reach 
heaven, I do not think we shall feel that we have made too 
great sacrifices for Christ." His farm, of about one hundred 
and fifty acres, was an exceptionally rocky one but as soon as 
the debt of six hundred dollars for it, with which they started, 
could be paid, this young couple put in execution their fixed 
purpose, to give to the Lord, year by year, all that they earned 
above current expenses. My father was a natural mechanic. 
By means of the good stock of tools in our little shop he readily 
shod a sled, made a yoke, or handled this and that tool. His 
boys took solid comfort in that "good room" on many a rainy 
day. I count it a great blessing that we were taught to work 
regularly and perseveringly. But a boy learns such a habit 
much more easily if he works side by side with his father, who 
does the hardest part, and allows some time for rest and sport. 
Hoeing with my father, I can still remember wishing the dinner 
horn would blow and wondering where I could find, among the 
many stones, dirt enough to round up the hills of corn. But, 
at noon, a full hour was given us to read the books we had 
drawn from the town library. If it was Thursday, a little less 
work was laid out, that there might be leisure to attend the 
church prayer meeting. Father did thoroughly whatever he 
undertook. Hence, although a great deal of town business was 
put upon him, his three boys were taught to carry everything for- 
ward in the regular way during his frequent- absences. It must 
have been the silent impress of our parents' sacrifices for our 
good which made their children scarce ever think of any other 
way than promptly obeying. 

In Deacon Avery, Mary Lyon found a most congenial helper 
for the great work of founding Mount Holyoke Seminary. He, 
with Deacons Safford and Porter, was placed upon its board 
of trustees from the very start. I find in the history of the 
seminary the statement that but for the co-operation of these 
three, the farmer, the smith, and the manufacturer, it did not 
appear how the enterprise could have gone forward. Father 
joyfully gave the work of his hands, and from his well-worn 
purse, to the erection of that first seminary building. I do not 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 219 

know how so much money for benevolence could have come 
out of his little flock of sheep, his few fatted cattle, and his 
stony acres, except by the fulfillment of the promise, "Give, 
and it shall be given unto you." The wife has much to do 
with her husband's ability to give. A graduate of the seminary 
tells me of Mary Lyon's bright look and zest in describing to 
her pupils incidents like this. In her great need of money, 
she came to Deacon Avery after he had already given most 
generously. He looked toward his wife questioningly, as he 
said, "I had set aside a sum of money for shingling my house 
this year." But she interposed, 'T can set the milk pans under 
the leaky places another year." So the money went to what 
they regarded a greater necessity. Miss Lyon thought she 
uttered the truth when saying, "In the last twenty years prob- 
ably no man in New England has given so much to benevolence, 
in proportion to his means, as Deacon Avery." Although he 
denied his children some things we craved, yet he gave us most 
needful and best things with an exceedingly liberal hand. His 
three daughters were carried through a thorough course of 
study at Mount Holyoke, my younger brother and myself at 
Williston Seminary and Amherst College. With little over a 
year's teaching I pushed on through three years at Andover, 
and then was helped by him to the beginning of a good minister's 
library. He would have sent his eldest son to college had it 
been desired. My parents planned a thorough education for 
their children, in order to their greatest usefulness, and 
then meant they should take care of themselves. It would 
have been, no grief to them if they could have foreseen that 
only the mother and a little infant daughter would sleep in 
the Conway burial place, while others would await the resur- 
rection morn in Wisconsin, the Indian Territory, Kansas, 
Alabama, New Jersey, and Maine. These parents lived to 
enjoy many labors of their children. Such benevolent parents 
often have more comfort in reading letters from children, dili- 
gently at work for the Master, than they could have by their 
presence, round about the old home. We paid twenty-five cents 
postage on the letters of Mary, as she went to teach Cherokee 
children at Park Hill, Indian Territory. She aroused an interest 
in the seminary, at which she had just graduated, so that, in 



220 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

due time, several of her pupils and daughters of the missionaries 
made the long journey and themselves were broadened and 
inspired by a course at Mount Holyoke Seminary. This at 
length brought the son of the Cherokee chief East to examine 
the different schools. He decided that the Holyoke system was 
the best, and so there was founded a Cherokee Female Seminary. 
My younger sister, Pauline, was one of three or four graduates 
of Mount Holyoke to teach in it. And to-day the daughters of 
that tribe are about as cultivated, and ambitious to do good, 
as those in New England. Not only did Mary and Pauline 
help to being about this great change, but, like Ruth of old, 
they found the best of husbands by obeying the feeling of duty 
and going far away to a different service. The eldest married 
Rev. Robert Loughridge, missionary in the neighboring Creek 
tribe. He published a dictionary of that language and the 
little Robert, whom she trained with so much care, is now 
instructor in the University of California. Pauline married 
Rev. Oswald Woodford, one of the brightest in his large class 
at Yale, and they left teaching the Cherokees to be home mis- 
sionaries to Kansas just when she was in the throes of that 
bloody strife between raiders from Missouri and sons of New 
England, armed with rifles and determined to prevent slavery 
getting root there. Our second sister, Caroline, taught some 
years and then married a lawyer of Buffalo, who added to 
his professional duties great success in Sabbath School work. 
Joseph, the oldest son, inherited his father's fondness for mathe- 
matics and mechanical contrivances. When a mere youth he 
constructed the model of a railroad bridge which should be so 
stiff as to support a long train with hardly any vibration. On 
applying for a patent he found the principle had been virtually 
used in building the bridge below Niagara. He rose as civil 
engineer to be a large constructor of railroads. He felt that 
work in the South had a great civilizing influence. He was 
appointed to help in surveying the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for 
a ship railroad. They published an interesting volume of 
reports. Although he died in Alabama, just at the breaking 
out of the Rebellion, Southerners erected a handsome monument 
over his grave. 

When I was at home on vacations and used to tell my little 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 221 

brother John stories, as he stood by my milking stool, I little 
thought ot hini as becoming so eminent a scholar. While 
professor of Languages in Iowa, and then in Bowdoin College, 
he not only put enthusiasm into the studies of his classes, but 
also carried on the study of Sanskrit, and mastered several 
modern languages of India. At his early death he had accu- 
mulated many materials for an extended work on India. 

At my own graduation from Andover, my mother having 
died, father disposed of his farm and went West with me to 
do over again the thousand helpful things he had been doing 
for the church in his native town. Thirteen years of his long 
life yet remained and, although he was already sixty-five, he 
threw himself into the work of building up a thriving young 
town in the WY^st with the enthusiasm of young manhood. 
The field assigned us was Sparta, Wis. 

I have not mentioned another line of usefulness which my 
parents' lives took on in their Massachusetts home. Very plain 
though it was, and attended with some hardships, yet families 
of some eminence desired their sons, exposed to city temptations, 
to come for a time under the influence of these wise parents. 
Dr. Muzzey, a surgeon of note in Cincinnati, had his boy Dela- 
van with us for quite a time. He became private secretary of 
President Johnson. Deacon Safford of Boston first sent Daniel, 
bright but rather wild. He became a merchant in New York 
City. His younger and more scholarly brother George followed, 
who for over lhirt\- years was pastor of the College Church 
at Burlington, \t. Dr. Anderson, of the American Board, sent 
his son Edward, who has preached to important churches, as 
in Quincy, 111., Norwalk and Donaldsonville, Conn. 

Going half a mile north from the home of my parents, some sixty 
years ago, we should have come to the family of Isaac Marsh. It 
was his little granddaughter whom the pastor. Rev. Samuel 
Harris, adopted, as he had no children of his own. Thus, this 
little Lucy exchanged great poverty for the best of home life 
and training in the schools of Pittsfield, Mass., and Bangor or 
Brunswick, Maine. Finally she was prepared to be the wife 
of Dr. Edwin Parker, for forty years pastor of the Second 
Congregational Church, Hartford. 

On the eastern slope of Cricket Hill is a small burying ground 



222 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

in which is a headstone, bearing the name EHsha Clark. He 
came, with a family of little children, from Harwich, Barnstable 
County, Mass., in 1774. His farm lay a little east, so that he 
belonged to the AUis District, or South Part. Other children 
were born to him, till their number reached ten. Follow this 
stream into the next generation, and see how it broadened and 
deepened. Marcy had eight children, Hannah ten, Elisha, 2d, 
ten, Scotto five, Oliver fifteen, Tabitha thirteen, Thomas five, 
and Thankful five. Here were seventy-seven grandchildren of 
that one Elisha. They spread to many towns, and some have 
a noble record in Conway, as we shall now see. Scotto Clark 
married a daughter of his pastor, John Emerson, and one of 
their children became the wife of Rev. Adams Nash, as we 
have already seen. A second daughter, Sabra, won the heart 
of a young instructor in Amherst College, the son of Rev. Thomas 
Snell, D.D., of North Brookfield. They were married in 1828 
and he was appointed professor of Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy in 1834. Both lived to a good old age. Professor 
Snell's pupils cherish his memory as of one genial, accurate, 
and thorough. How we enjoyed those beautiful experiments he 
performed in natural philosophy, mostly with instruments which 
his own hands had constructed. Said an Amherst lady recently, 
"Professor Snell had a lovely family of daughters." Another 
family of Clarks was that of Ebenezer, who lived in that district, 
near Whately line. In this was Rodolphus, who practiced 
dentistry here for a time, and was a deacon of the Congrega- 
tional church. He removed to Dubuque, Iowa, to be followed 
by his brothers, Albert, a lawyer, Asa, a druggist, and Lincoln, 
a dentist. These four young men had fine opportunity to help 
mould society in that vigorous state. 

Only a little north of Scotto Clark's home was that of 
Marshall Field's father. It stood just over the brow of almost 
a mountain, with a fine view to the east and south. By climbing 
• the higher peak close by, the village of Conway and the pretty 
hills all about it are spread out like a map, at one's feet. This 
surpassing beauty of view together with that rugged hillside 
to be climbed, whenever he went to the village for church, 
school, or an errand at the store and post ofiftce, must have 
been a very valuable force in shaping this boy's, Marshall's, 



I 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 223 

young life. Winter storms often howled fiercely round his home 
and blocked the road either way. A neighbor tells me that 
he was driving by this John Field's home, when a gust carried 
his sleigh quite out of the road, and up against Mr. Field's 
barn. Climbing that hill had something to do with the 
energy Mr. Field has shown in accumulating his vast estate. 
Had not the wide and charming views ever spread out about 
him in childhood, a tendency to broaden him, so as to be the 
master mind, capable of managing a business, reaching to 
distant lands, yet systematizing it, so that he can leave each 
department to its proper superintendent and himself rest from 
care of details? Besides these striking features of nature envi- 
roning Marshall Field's home, we love to think of that mother, 
for whom a tablet has been placed by his sisters on the walls 
of the Congregational church she loved from childhood. It 
reads: "In Loving Memory of our Mother. Fidelia N. Field 
entered into Rest Sept. 22, 1865. By her Daughters." 

It is interesting to think that Conway has given the country 
three so able business men. Besides Mr. Field in Chicago, is 
William C. Whitney, former Secretary of the Navy, and now 
prominent in New York's great business enterprises; and his 
brother, Henry M. Whitney, who has been hardly less noted 
for similar energetic work in Boston. Their father was noted, 
while living among us, as a ready and forcible speaker. At 
one town meeting the question of purchasing a fire engine was 
debated. A gentleman from the northern part of the town 
made an impassioned appeal against laying burdens upon the out 
parts to support the center. He seemed likely to carry the day. 
But General Wliitney rose and most skillfully turned his argu- 
ment round, securing a unanimous vote for the engine. After the 
Whitneys left here, Mrs. Whitney presented the Congregational 
church with a pipe organ, and Marshall Field gave two thousand 
dollars toward rebuilding its church, which had burned down. 

Other useful families lined that road which passed over 
Field's Hill, as the Browns, the AUises, the Footes. But let 
us turn to the Hoosac neighborhood. Close by Francis How- 
land's was the birthplace of Lincoln Clark, grandson of Scotto 
Clark, and one of Conway's best contributions to the good of our 
country. He was born in 1800; at twenty-five graduated from 



224 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Amherst College; taught and at the same time studied law, 
for the next five or six years; then married Julia A. Smith of 
Hadley, Mass. She was a lady of much refinement and prepared 
to be his efificient helper in all noble aims. From 1831 to 1836 
he is described as a very successful lawyer in Alabama, being 
twice sent to the State Legislature, made a judge of the Circuit 
Court, and attorney general. He then moved to Iowa, and 
became member of Congress. Afterwards he practiced law in 
Chicago for years, until a very severe attack of typhoid fever 
broke down his health completely, and he came to loved Conway 
for his last days. Two daughters and four sons were given to 
him, and the history of the Clark family describes him as always 
the side of justice and right. 
Conway has sent out a noble band of ministers, and another 
scarcely less useful one of lawyers. The old homestead of 
William Avery Rowland, close by that of Lincoln Clark's 
father, had a little later children that were to make their mark 
in the world. An oration delivered at our Centennial by William 
Rowland, Esq., of Lynn, Mass., shows finely his patriotism 
and broad views of our country's needs. Many were the honors 
won by his younger brother George. For about five years he 
was instructor in Amherst College, and later one of its trustees, 
as has been and is his brother Walter. We were proud to 
hear of George as so successful, at the head of the Chicago 
High School for twenty years, then superintendent of all the 
schools in that great city, and finally president of the State 
Board of Education. The family of William Avery Rowland 
furnished others to worthily represent the town in different 
spheres of labor. We were all delighted with the address of 
Walter M. Rowland, Esq., at the laying of the corner stone of 
our new library building. Its beauty and appropriateness made 
the large audience rejoice that this duty had been assigned to 
one so capable and so hearty in his regard for the welfare of 
Conway. Not without a just pride does this family trace its 
genealogy, on the mother's side, to Thomas Clarke, mate of 
the "Mayflower," and, on that of its father, to John Rowland, 
who came in the "Mayflower." Very properly has the present 
representative of the family, Walter M. Rowland, been made 
governor of the Mayflower Association in Chicago. 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 225 

Let us now turn to two very useful families living near 
each other fifty years ago, in the north district of Broomshire. 
Many still remember Col. Austin Rice's erect form and dignified 
bearing. Some can recall his lovely wife and bright, happy 
family. A few still remember the large Bible class Colonel Rice 
taught in the southeast room of the old church vestry. I 
remember rather dreading the searching questions, which came 
round to each of us in turn. He died in 1880, having rounded 
out, to within two days, a long and useful life of eighty-six 
years. Having been for many years a trustee of Mount Holyoke 
Seminary, his death called out this tribute of affection, which 
appears in the history of that institution: "He was remarkable 
for the symmetry and consistency of his Christian character. 
While firm in his adherence to principle, he waS most kind 
and genial. In business matters he was active, enterprising, 
and judicious, yet a liberal and systematic giver, who lived to 
help the Lord's work — a minister to the poor. Humility was 
joined to unfaltering trust, and the Friend, who had walked 
with him in life, did not fail him in death." 

We are not surprised that of such noble parents sprang a 
son, Charles Baker Rice, who has been quite a favorite of the 
town. To him was assigned the duty of gathering up the chief 
events in our town's history, and presenting them on the inter- 
esting occasion of its one hundredth anniversary. That address 
shows him an indefatigable worker and original thinker. How 
delightful that he is closing a long and useful ministry by his 
present great service in bringing happily together many pastor- 
less churches and unemployed ministers! 

Opposite the hilltop where stood the home of Austin Rice 
was that of Deacon John Clary. His father, Joseph Clary, was 
born in 1751, and early established himself in a house thirty 
or forty rods southeast of the present brick house, built in 1808. 
From Joseph Clary's family came a daughter, who married 
Deacon Christopher Arms, and another, the wife already named 
of Deacon Joseph Avery. Deacon John Clary, a son of Joseph, 
became one of Conway's notably useful men. In attempting 
to go through Amherst College, he was checked, by hemorrhage 
of the lungs, and obliged to spare himself from severe physical 
labor all his days. Born in 1802, temperate habits prolonged 



226 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

his valuable life to the good age of seventy-seven years. His 
select school, of twenty-nine consecutive terms, was a very 
great blessing to our young people at a time when the higher 
grade of schools was not as abundant as now. That his average 
of pupils was thirty-six, during all these years, shows a hearty 
appreciation of the school's value. He inspired great numbers 
of these pupils to attempt teaching themselves, and sent others 
forward upon more full courses of study. Deacon Clary was 
a leading worker in many other ways. He earnestly studied 
God's word, using Burns's notes, then freshly published, as 
his chief aid and was admirable in church and neighborhood 
prayer meetings. With the help of Colonel Rice and Dr. 
Rogers he maintained a large Sabbath School in Shirkshire on 
Sabbath afternoons. Deacon Clary's son, Francis, was one of 
our choice young men, who left college to be a color bearer of 
the 31st Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War. The little 
book in which the lady whom he was intending to marry sketches 
his life as a soldier shows him as brave a soldier of Jesus Christ 
as he was of his country. Death ended very beautifully this 
nobly useful life. With his fellow soldiers, he was lying low be- 
fore Port Hudson, to escape its sharpshooters, and to await 
further orders. A companion, lying a few feet away, was ex- 
ceedingly thirsty, and young Clary raised himself slightly to 
toss his canteen of water, when a bullet struck him fatally in the 
neck. His words were: "I am wounded, some one else must 
take the colors now." 

To teach the slaves Francis helped to liberate, his sister 
Martha gave her best years, wearing herself out in this generous 
service. Her younger sister, Susan, taught about fifteen years 
in the seminary at South Hadley, and then accepted an invita- 
tion to help build up a little center of instruction in Pretoria, 
South Africa. She made the voyage safely, but could reach 
Pretoria only by a very severe ride on a rude stage conveyance 
over the hills and across immense plains. So rapidly did they 
proceed that she could hardly cling to her seat. Her school 
had to be commenced in the damp vestry of a church, and 
this precious life ended only a year after she left her pupils at 
South Hadley. Other workers have succeeded her. A fine 
building was erected, and her spirit of consecration cannot but 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 227 

have found fruit, where such great events have since tran- 
spired. 

Passing from Broomshire to the district of Poland on the 
west, a very pleasant recollection comes to me of a small boy 
who came from Poland to do chores at my uncle's, and attend 
our Cricket Hill school. We became (luite fast friends. I 
remember speaking a dialogue with him, in which we smoked 
the pipe of peace together, using bits of dried grapevine for 
pipes. His name was Austin Bond. When the state undertook 
the herculean task of building Hoosac Tunnel and afterwards 
run the cars for a time upon the road thus opened, Austin Bond 
kept its books and handled about twenty-seven millions of its 
money. At the close of this great responsibility the Springfield 
Republican humorously dwelt upon an error in Mr. Bond's 
accounts, to the enormous amount of three or four cents. This 
has not prevented his being made the auditor of accounts for 
North Adams ever since. 

Going west from Poland schoolhouse half a mile, and there 
turning to the right, you will, after a few rods, find traces of 
an old road. Following this down the hill ^ind bearing to the left 
you soon come to an old cellar hole beside a pile of rocks and un- 
der the overhanging hill. Here in 1804 was born the world's 
greatest telescope maker, Alvan Clark. Those beautiful Chapel 
Falls furnished the power for a gristmill, which led Alvan's 
father to build down in this depressed and out-of-the-way 
hollow. The foundation stones are still visible where his mill 
stood, at the base of the falls, evidently catching the water at 
its last plunge to turn the overshot wheel of those days. Was 
it the beauty of those falls which made the boy so fond of 
sketching pictures? As he grew to manhood one face painted 
itself upon his heart. It was that of Maria, the eldest sister 
of Newton and Franklin Pease. He lived only a few hundred 
yards over the line in Ashfield, and she just this side in the 
edge of Conway. If we cannot claim the whole of him, we can 
his better half. He rose gradually to fame, painting miniature 
pictures, engraving on copper, inventing a new and valuable 
instrument for measuring the exceedingly minute angles in 
estimating the distances of remotest stars. Then with exceeding 
patience he fashioned the great lenses which have brought those 



228 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

stars near. One of his telescopes is mounted at Yerkes Observa- 
tory, Lake Geneva; another at the Naval Observatory, Wash- 
ington. The Russian government ordered one of monster size. 
He himself discovered many double stars through his own 
instruments, and honors were showered upon him from this 
and other lands. But they were gained by persevering toil. 
He did not begin to make lenses till he was over forty. And 
so we may believe that she who bore him two sons and two 
daughters was a sympathetic helper in all his high aspirations. 

Going north a little ways from the early home of Maria 
Pease, we should have come to that of Gideon Cooley. His 
daughter, Julia, married Rev. Thomas Norton. One of their 
parishes was the old town, out of which was carved the large 
manufacturing city of Brockton, Mass. Did the bustle of 
incoming business, and the starting up of machinery, make of 
their son an inventor? We have noticed heavy doors brought, 
by what is called the "hand spring," swiftly together, and then 
as gently closed, as by a human hand. Young Norton 
invented this contrivance, to prevent the discomfort of 
slamming doors. 

We have now glanced at the six school districts of Conway, 
naming some useful men and women in the history of its outer 
parts. Let us come to the threefold village which forms its 
center and heart. Pumpkin Hollow claimed for a long time 
the principal church, town hall, store, tavern, harness shop, 
and was as much the center of business as of the town's scattered 
population. Let us begin with its cluster of useful families. 
Good old Doctor Rogers lived sixty or seventy years ago where 
is now Arthur Delabarre. Often might he be seen with saddle 
bags and faithful horse threading the hilly roads, to bring 
relief to weary patients. I shall never forget his cheerful and 
devout exclamation as he entered my sick room. A too quick 
exposure after an attack of scarlet fever had brought me to 
the borders of the grave but, by counsel with neighboring 
physicians. Dr. Rogers was guided to some simple remedies 
which wrought in twenty-four hours a marked change for the 
better. As he opened the door of my room, on the following 
morning, his first and reverent utterance was: "How strange 
SL harp of thousand strings should keep in tune so long!" 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 229 

Almost opposite Dr. Rogers lived William Billings. His 
grandaughter is now the wife of Judson Smith, D.D., an honored 
secretary of the American Board. Next south of Mr. Billings 
was Phineas Bartlett, a man of sound judgment and stanch 
integrity, who was town treasurer for twenty-three years in 
succession and justice of the peace for a like long period. An- 
other useful family was opposite, that of John Rowland, whose 
wife was the granddaughter of that early and prolific settler, 
Elisha Clark. Here were eleven children and here, too, was long 
kept the library owned by many and a blessing to the town. 

On the hill south of John Rowland's lived Capt. Henry P. 
Billings. We were then favored with quite a number of gen- 
erals, colonels, and captains. This Mr. Billings married a sister 
of President Hitchcock. The family has well served this and 
other communities. Many of our youth have been helped to 
higher attainments in music, and the town's business continues 
to be as honestly and carefully looked after as in the days of 
Malachi Maynard or Phineas Bartlett. Henry W^ Billings, 
Esq., a son of Captain Billings, has served the town continuously 
as clerk since 1861, and as treasurer since 1864. 

North of John Rowland's lived the family of Newhall blest 
like so many others with the best of mothers. She was first 
Mrs. Josiah Tilton, who came with her husband from Brighton, 
Mass. Mr. Tilton had there a good business in supplying the 
Boston market with beef. The cattle were brought by drovers, 
a veteran one coming all the way from Conway. A desire to 
change his busines to that of farming was thus awakened. Mr. 
and Mrs. Tilton came here in their own carriage with S3,000 or 
S4,000 in a trunk swinging from its axle. Every night this 
precious trunk was unstrapped and placed beside their bed. 
They bought a farm two or three miles north of the center and 
after her husband's death Mrs. Tilton married Mr. Jabez 
Newhall. This worthy mother and grandmother had much 
to do with the usefulness of the family in church music and 
other ways. 

As we ascend the hill to the west John Packard is on 
our right, who is president of the Savings Bank, the Electric 
Railroad, and the Co-operative Creamery. Re is a brother 
of Azel Packard, cousin of Emory Meekins, partners in the 



230 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Springfield firm to which I have alluded. I recall it again to say 
that Mr. Meekins' sister married a returned missionary, Rev. 
William Arms, who has since been the esteemed pastor of a 
church in Sunderland, Mass., and of one in Terry ville and in 
Essex, Conn. 

Halfway up this little hill, west of the old first meeting 
house, we come to a house notable for the many valuable workers 
who have gone out from it. First let us speak of the early family 
of Wares living there. The father was a physician. His son, 
Rev. Samuel Ware, won the title of D.D. Bethiah Ware 
became the wife of Moses Miller, long the minister of Heath, 
Mass. Sally Ware married Rev. William Bonney, and Eliza- 
beth, Rev. Theophilus Packard, for a long time pastor in Shelburne, 
the next town north of us. I remember well hearing him on 
exchange, and thinking him a forcible preacher. After moving 
West his wife was quite carried away with the "Woman's 
Rights" movement, published some books, gave addresses, and 
carried the idea so far that she ceased to be helpful in her 
own home and parted from her distressed husband. 

After the Wares left, my uncle, William Avery, sold the old 
John Avery farm on Cricket Hill and came to this house to live. 
For some fifteen years he was a great invalid. His good wife did 
everything to keep up his spirits. She gathered up the news 
from all quarters and kept his mind alive with interest in it. 
He was rolled about the house on a little bed that he might 
see as much as possible. He amused himself with the study 
of French, and by such sensible recreations almost completely 
recovered health. So grateful and eager for work had he grown 
that he delighted to work not only for the comfort of his own 
home, but also for poorer homes among the factory operatives. 
Sometimes he used to be called "the missionary of the village." 

His death, in middle life, left Mrs. Avery with strength for 
a great work which was soon laid upon her. A kind Providence 
has many striking compensations for the labors and trials of 
God's servants. This noble wife had nursed her husband 
through all manner of cares, and with utmost tenderness, but 
without the joy of any little ones. Now children were intrusted 
to her training who would love her as though their owm mother. 
I barely remember when her brother, Rev. William Howland, 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 231 

married a teacher, Susan Reed, in the seniinar\- at South Hadley 
and went as foreign missionary to Ceylon. A large famih' of 
children brought that sharp trial to missionaries of sending them 
away from the foul atmosphere of heathenism for education 
amid our greater privileges. What the delightful missionary 
homes at Auburndale and Oberlin are doing for companies of such 
children, Mrs. Avery was permitted to do for these of her brother. 
Four were taken into her own home, and three others placed in 
three of the best families not far away. Their aunt was the 
mother and center to which all might resort. All our church and 
school privileges were open to them and several were aided to 
secure a thorough course of study in higher institutions. William 
went to India and repeated his father's work, doing excellent 
service in the Madura mission. Samuel became the head of 
a theological training school in the Ceylon mission, John has 
long been preaching under the American Board in a large town 
in Mexico. In Ceylon is a flourishing seminary for young ladies. 
The veteran Miss Agnew was its principal for forty years. On 
retiring from her work it was stated that about seven hundred 
had been under her training and not one left the seminary with- 
out apparently Christian principle. Miss Susan Rowland re- 
turned to this place of her birth, and for twenty-five years has 
been carrying on Miss Agnew's great work. She now has about 
one hundred and fifty pupils under her care. As we go from this 
house, on the hillside, west of Pumpkin Hollow, what precious 
memories of the Wares, the Averys, the Rowlands, cluster 
around it! 

We walk on to the top of the hill, and look out to the village 
eastward and to the beautiful prospect south and west and feel 
that the name "Rillview" has been aptly given to this home 
once occupied by Rorace Childs. A daughter of his, Mrs. M. 
Elizabeth Perry, was in the little primary class with Marshall 
Field, down at the foot of the hill in the district school. Re 
took the course toward business, she toward teaching. Rer 
first schqols were in town. Then she was honored with a place 
among the teachers at Mount Rolyoke Seminary for eleven 
years and since 1870 has had, at this her birthplace, a school, to 
prepare young ladies for the same institution. Who can estimate 
the worth of impressions made by one such teacher upon so 



232 



HISTORY OF CONWAY. 



many young minds! How many have gone out from her earnest 
drill to further years of profitable study and then to all kinds of 
Christian work, in this and other lands! 

We next pass over to the Arms place, on the north side of 
Burkeville. Its pleasant view, and smooth fei^tile mowings, 
make it one of our finest residences. Consider Arms came here, 
in the humble beginnings of Conway, and built opposite where 




Burkeville. 



Charles Ives now lives, with the venerable Elijah Arms. The 
house now there looks southward and is about one hundred 
years old. Here John Arms reared a very large family, possess- 
ing much of his quite remarkable energy. His daughter Judith 
married the manufacturer, who gave to Burkeville its name. 
She still lives at Waukegan, a little north of Chicago, having 
reached the great age of ninety-two. 

Julia Ann married Rev. Dwight Ives, who preached for a 
time in the West, then in Springfield, Mass., and for thirty years 
in Sufifield, Conn. He there helped to build up not only his 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 233 

large church, but also Suffield Institute and was honored with 
the title of D.D. He closed his useful life with service in Conway, 
during his last two years. 

John Arms' daughter, Wealthy, married Deacon Robert 
Coffin, who was a teacher all his days, at one time in Ashfield 
Academy, also in Northampton and Ipswich, Mass., and Warren, 
R. I. About fifteen of his last years were passed in Conway. 
He compiled our Centennial pamphlet, and not only taught, but 
also was visitor of schools here, walking, as some say, fifteen 
hundred miles in his old age, to do it. There came to Mr. 
Cofifin's home, a boy named Horace Jenkins, from Ashfield. He 
paid for his room ten cents a week, and managed to get his board 
for the merest trifle. At a prayer meeting, in a neighboring 
house, he first confessed his loyalty to Christ. He united with 
this Baptist church and was helped forward in study, so as to 
obtain a liberal education. Since then he has labored forty 
years on the eastern coast of China, part of the time at the head 
of a valuable school. He is now on furlough, and making ex- 
cellent addresses, but hopes yet to put in ten more years of 
work in China. A daughter of Deacon Coffin, Ada, married 
Rev. Adoniram Judson Chaplin, who preached in Conway for 
a time. Her pen did good service, as in writing Sabbath School 
books. 

A near neighbor of Mr. Coffin was Deacon Christopher Arms 
of the Congregational church. His three daughters, Fanny, 
Pauline, and Harriet, were good Christian workers and their 
father very active in our social religious meetings. Harriet was 
a missionary teacher, for some years, among the Choctaw Indians, 
and then married Rev. Charles Sylvester. His ministry closed 
only a few years since, at Feeding Hills, Mass. 

Coming down from Baptist Hill to River Street, there was 
years ago, as now, a blacksmith shop and the name of the smith 
was Ames. Out of this stock came Fisher and John, who went 
to Montreal, Canada, and there built up a fine business. Fisher 
was a favorite while here, and represented us in the Legislature 
in 1854. He did noble Christian service in Montreal, and his 
son is still working for housing the poor there in better tenements. 
While on River Street we must not forget the Tuckers and Cooks, 
who have done so much for the Methodist church and given 



234 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

employment in their factories to so many families. Near by 
are the Holcombs, earnest helpers in the Baptist church. Another 
of its families was that of Leonard Stearns. This has sent West 
a son, who is superintendent of Home Missions in one of the 
newer states. Joseph Pulsifer close beside the Baptist church, 
though blind, can quote accurately a great many passages from 
the Bible. It is to him the Book of books, bringing a light within, 
though the outer world be dark. The families of Hamiltons 
have long served the town and none of them better than Dr. 
Darwin Hamilton. He was a man of excellent judgment, long 
president of the National Bank, and often called to preside at 
town meetings. 

William G. Avery, grandson of Deacon Joseph, has made 
himself useful to many in the service of both the National 
and Savings Banks. By Marshall Field's special request he is 
president of the trustees to the new library. 

Just east of the village, where Charles Parsons now lives, and 
one of our most delightful sites for a home, once lived Col. Charles 
Billings. He took delight in all public questions, and loved now 
and then to cross over to John Arms and discuss them. His 
family ranks among our best. A son, named Salter Storrs, for 
the illustrious Brooklyn preacher, through relationship on the 
mother's side, became a minister, preaching with success at 
Shelburne and Dalton, Mass., and also in Connecticut. Jerusha 
Billings married Prof. Bela B. Edwards, one of the distinguished 
teachers in Andover Theological Seminary. Mary Billings 
married Rev. Ogden Dwight, and went with him as missionary 
to India. After his death, she became the wife of Rev. Myron 
Winslow, a missionary there of note. Elizabeth married Rev. 
Hiram Mead, pastor at South Hadley and then a professor at 
Oberlin. Mrs. Mead was president of Mount Holyoke Seminary 
and College, for ten years. 

There are still others, born in Conway, who have been emi- 
nent for their usefulness. One was Rev. H. G. O. Dwight, D.D., 
long time missionary at Constantinople. He worked especially 
for the Armenians, who have recently been called to great 
sufferings, for their love of Christ. Dr. Dwight must have been 
an indefatigable worker to have written so much for publica- 
tion amid his many missionary cares. One of his books was 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 235 

about the revival of Christianity in the East. That prince of 
biographers, Professor Park, would not ha\'e written his life, 
had it not been one of very great usefulness. He was born 
here in 1803; studied at Hamilton College; went as missionary 
in 1830 and died, through a railroad accident, when on a visit 
to this country, in 1862. 

I have reason to be grateful for another of Conway's noble 
men, Rev. Dexter Clary. He was superintendent of Home 
Missions in Wisconsin, when I began my ministry on its western 
side. We soon formed a little church of twenty-three members 
at Sparta, and he made the long journey round, I think, by the 
north part of Illinois to aid in organizing it, and preach my 
installation sermon. When, a little later, we had erected quite 
a nice church, he came again and preached the dedication sermon. 
I remember him as an able preacher and very genial, benevolent 
man, doing a noble w^ork for that growing state. At his first 
visit there were only three Congregational ministers, besides 
myself, in the west part of the state. Two of these had come 
nearly forty miles, and the other about thirty, to help form our 
church. We five ministers were just finishing breakfast and 
Mr. Clary was then to start back for his home at Beloit, when he 
said: "Oh, I have a present for you in my satchel. I put my 
hand in a missionary box, before starting, and drew it out for 
you." He rose and brought quite a small package. Undoing 
it, we saw four jackknives. He gave one to each, and said: 
"Now, boys, cut your way through the world." 

We have by no means exhausted the list of ministers and 
wives of ministers furnished by Conw^ay. And in other depart- 
ments of useful labor she has been exceedingly serviceable. 
Hon. Harvey Rice, LL.D., a grandson of the first settler, 
Cyrus Rice, became an editor and distinguished man of letters 
in Cleveland, Ohio. He published several books of travel and 
of poetry, and was the poet of our Centennial celebration. Mr. 
Rice was graduated at Williams College in 1824 and in 1867 
gave to his x\lma Mater the now famous Haystack Monument 
in Mission Park to commemorate the birthplace of American 
foreign missions. In 1898 the citizens of Cleveland erected a 
bronze statue to his memory as the "Father of the Ohio School 
System." 



2M> 



iiisiom' ()!• (()N\\A^'. 



Aiiollici (li:.l iiii;iiislit'(l son ol ( Oiiw.iN, now .iliiiosi loii^ol (I'li, 
is ( "licslci ll.iidiiu',, ihc |M.ili.ii( p.iiiilci. lie w .is 1 xmi Sfi)tcm- 
l»ci I, I '/<).', ill Ihc S.,iilli I'.iil ..I ( '..iiw.iN oil Ihc old 10,1.1 Ic.idin^; 
(<) VVh.iIcK (.1.11. lie |).iiiil((l |>oili.iils loi lu.iiiN ol Ihc ro\.il 
liiiiiilics ill I'liiopc .111(1 ihc lllo^.l disl iiii.',iiislic( I ciii/ciis in ihis 
«-oiiiili\. A ll.iidiiiv; |ioili.iil (il ihc I'.iii ol Ahcrdccn ii.iiii^s 
in Ihc Mciiioii.il diiiiiiK loom .il II.iia.ikI ( ollci;c. Mis List 
woilv w.is .1 |)(Mli.iil ol (m'iici.iI Shciiii.in, |>.iinlcd in IS()(>. Mr 
died ihc s.iiiic \c.ii in Kosloii. 

I low (.line Ml iii.iiiN iiolilc h\cs lo oriv^in.ilc here.'' Id nic 
)ir.l n.iiiic ihicc ol oiii |ii iiK ip.il ciiises, used ol ('.od, lo .iccoiii- 
pli-.h ihc r.ic.il w 01 k. 

I'ii .1, .iiid loicino.l. w.c. .Ill .iMc .ind l.iilhliil ininisli\. I 
knew Id". I .oiiic ol il s ( oiuM ci^il K ui.il iiiiiiisl ci s. And \ d when 
.1 l)o\ , I I el I I he loK f ol s|)c( i.il ic\ i\ .il nicel iiiv;s .1 1 I he K.iplisI 
(IiiikIi I\cii Mi. Inieison's p.isloi.ilc lell in ins mind .1 
disliiKl iiii|>icsr.ioii, llnoiiidi wli.il m\ motliei used lo lell ol 
hei riilhood, \ol oiil\ w ei e ihc Noimv; .hilled upon llii- r.ile- 
(hi. Ill, l>iil llie\ wiol.- p,i|.cis, I., lie le.id piiMi.K. \'\]v\ w ere 
dc.piN ml.ieslc.l in llie iliiii.h .ind il'. p.isloi, il I iii.u in.lv;e 
li\ wli.il m\ niolh.i r..iid, .iiid l>\ hei own (h.ii.uler. ('.iiiw.iN' 
h.is I..VI1 l.l.-,s.-.l, I1..111 111,- lii:-l, wilh .111 .il.le .ind l.iilhlni 
minisliN. The liiiil'. ol lli.ii nmcmilliiiv; l.>il e.in now l>c 
ponile.l ..III. .111.1 .h-.liii.ll\ se.ii .ill ..\.i llie town. .\ll llii.>ni;h 
Ihc e.iiK .111.1 mid. lie p.nlioiis ..! .nil hisl.>i\ (he S.iMi.ilh 
W.1-. iev',.iidcd I'cnci.ilU .is .1 s.iiic.l d.iN scl .ijt.lll loi sj.iiilil.ll 
iiiipi..\eiiiciil . MosI ..I .nil S.1I.I..11I1 ,111. lien. cs siMll.T.-.l lo 
t|iiicl II. lines, .1111. »iiy; ihc hills, when- llie\ loiil.l u-llc.l iip.)il 
wh.il lli.\ li.i.l seen .111. 1 Ii.mi.I .>ii this l).-s( d.i\ .>! .ill llie week. 
Ihc pi. mis .»! I u;lile.i||siiess spiiiii;iiii; up li.nn llu- v.oni\ seed 
li.i.l .1 .li.iiHc lo l.iki- i.>.»l. Merc, ihen, is .)ne chiel insdu- 
iiiciil .ilil \ 111 pio. hu'ini;, .IS ( ..>. I mlciulcd, ch.n .ulei ol line .iii.ihly 
111 .ilm...i .ill 0111 h.>mrs. 

I II. nil.', .IS .inolhei . .ii^.c, ill.' \ cr\ riii;i;edncss ol om hills 
.111.1 lo.kmc:.'. .>l .>ni l.iiiiu., miiujiiii; with llu- lo\.'l\ \ie\\s 
seen liom llicii hilk.ides Ui.lc lioiii (In- Iwo 01 ihi.'c ihiiuhes, 
.Il ill.' i.'iil.'i, III .lllllo^^l .iii\ .liie.lion, .md \.>n will tiiid ni.iny 
.1 hill li.ii.l lo .isi-.'ii.l 01 .l.'s.cnd, eic \.>n ic.uli llic lown limits, 
loi .1 iciiliiiN .111.1 .1 lliiid, .>iii chiMii'ii li.i\.' li.i.l .'\pi'iienre 



USEFUL MEN AND WOMEN. 237 

of clambering up and down these stony, steep hills in coming 
to church or going out of the village. Their muscles have 
grown strong, and ability to do good honest work perseveringly 
has been cultivated by the abundant rocks all over our farms. 
But, with Conway's ruggedness, comes her charming beauty 
of scenery. Those who know all about the attractiveness of 
Williamstown, Lenox, Stockbridge, Lanesboro, and other towns 
in Berkshire County feel that many of our views are as fine. 
Take a ride to Broomshire, a little beyond Brainard Graves', 
look east from Samuel Clary's, climb the Arms Hill and ride 
■on for half a mile. Look north and east from the top of Field's 
Hill, or go down to where Lincoln Clark once lived near Francis 
Howland's, ride along by Charles Ailis's, then climb the ascent 
back of Levi Lee's. If you have any poetry in your soul, any 
admiration for God's handiwork in nature, you will be abun- 
dantly rewarded for rides about Conway, with this one object 
in view. Our fathers appreciated this beauty. Many early 
sites of houses were evidently selected to command these best 
views and often before the house there was set a fine row of 
shade trees, now^ grown venerable. This bold outline of hill 
and valley impressed itself silently upon lives which I have been 
trying to call back from the already shadowy past. 

Now add to a faithful ministry, and to the physical features 
of the town, a third influence, tending to form strong and noble 
character. I refer to the value put upon good education in 
Conway's past history. Schools have been a care from the 
first. Within three months of incorporation the town appointed 
a committee to select a teacher, and provide a place for a school. 
Such first schools were held in private houses. After six years 
a fairly good sized schoolhouse was erected, near the first church. 
The older boys and girls and even young men and women 
came, we are told, from all parts of the town to this school, 
in which those early settlers thought about having Latin and 
Greek taught. Even this desire proves the high estimate they 
put upon a thorough education. The select school of Deacon 
John Clary, continued for twelve years from 1851, had a strong 
influence in making the people intelligent and ambitious to be 
useful. Conway Academy was started in 1853 and, when the 
building was destroyed by fire ten years later, hardly a year 



238 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

was suffered to pass before another building was erected in its 
place. We have seen evidence that here and there a son was 
sent away to college near the beginning of the century. John 
Avery went to Yale, Harvey Rice to Williams, H. G. O. D wight 
to Hamilton, and Henry Bannister to Wesleyan previous to 
1840. When Amherst College was founded in 1821, Conway 
citizens contributed about twenty-five hundred dollars, and 
when Mount Holyoke Seminary was founded in 1837, Conway 
sent fourteen hundred dollars. Imperfect records show that 
over forty of Conway's young people have graduated from 
colleges besides an almost innumerable number who have taken 
various courses of study beyond the high school grade. 

We have taken a brief and imperfect survey of a little more 
than the first one hundred years in the history of our town. 
Have not causes which I have named worked out truly stupen- 
dous results? Many other towns in Western Massachusetts may 
perhaps equal them. I have not tried to promote town pride, 
but to encourage a fidelity to our duties, like that shown by 
the generations which have gone before us. Such splendid 
results in the past ought to make present workers for God 
hopeful and energetic. As bright children will be born in the 
future as in the century now closing. We have good ministers, 
good schools, and shall soon have a large and well-equipped 
library. Our homes are far more pleasing and commodious 
than they were a hundred years ago. Heaven's rich blessing 
will surely attend now, as in the past, all hearty efforts to build 
worthy character and keep bright our fair names as a nobly useful 
town. 



Family Genealogies. 

Revised and Arranged by Miss Ada Patrick. 

The genealogy of the families that came here in the first 
hundred years has been gathered from the town records, family 
Bibles, published and unpublished genealogical records, from 
descendants of the original settlers, and from various obscure 
places. In this work the ancestors of the first settlers in the 
town have been traced back to the original immigrant, which 
has required a vast amount of investigation and considerable 
correspondence. The genealogies here given are as correct as 
we have been able to procure. No work of this kind was ever 
printed without mistakes, and we hope to be pardoned for ours. 

To assist in tracing the various lines of descent, the sons 
who became heads of families residing in Conway are marked 
with an asterisk (*). 



GENEALOGIES. 



ADAMS. William Adams of Ipswich, was. of Cambridge, 
as early as 1635, removed to Ipswich where he was a farmer, 
and died in 1661. One of his sons was Rev. William Adams, 
a noted divine of Dedham, Mass., and the first graduate of 
Harvard College by the name of Adams. 

Joel Adams (Benjamin, Thomas, Nathaniel, William), 
b. North Brookfield, April 19, 1752, m. July 4, 1776, Joanna 
Hale, daughter of Capt. Thomas of Brookfield. She was b. 
Jan. 19, 1754, d. here Oct. 12, 1846. He was born on the place 
in Brookfield and married there; moved to Montague and 
finally settled in Conway. 

Children recorded in Conway. 
Nancy, b. Aug. 4, 1777, m. Samuel Dunham. 
Polly, b. Nov. 11, 1779, m'. Nathaniel Holmes. 

Mordecai, b. Apr. 1, 1782, m. Thankful . 

Persis, b. Aug. 10, 1784, m. John Emerson. 
Betsey, b. June 29, 1786, d. Sept. 8, 1803. 
Joel, b. Aug. 4, 1788, d. Feb. 18, 1831. 

Charles, b. May 25, 1790, m. Pollv ; m. (2) Katherine Adams. 

Joanna, b. Apr. 20, 1792, m. May 1, 1827, Scotto Clark. 
*Osee, b. Aug. 5, 1794, ni. Mary C. Phinney. 



242 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

OsEE Adams (Joel, Benjamin, Thomas, Nathaniel, Wil- 
liam), b. Aug. 5, 1794, m. May 6, 1839, Mary C. Phinney. 
She d. April 24, 1907. 

Children. 
William Hale, b. Mar. 5, 1840. 
Henry Harrison, b. Nov. 20, 1847. 
Homer, b. May 1, 1852. 

Rawson Adams (Isaiah, John, Thomas, John, Ensign, 
Edward, Henrv), b. Sept. 20, 1822, m. Mav 30, 1849, Almira E. 
Grant of Rowe. She d. 1854. He m. (2) 1859, Fidelia Knowlton 
of Conway. She d. 1869. He m. (3) 1870, Ella E. Thompson 
of Conway. He d. April 9, 1893. 

Children. 
Cora Irene, b. 1859, m. 1881, Charles L. Williams. 
William Ellsworth, b. 1861, m. Clara Kenley. 
Almira Elizabeth, b. 1863, m. Theron Totman. 
Fred, b. 1868. 
Frank, b. 1868, d. 1870. 
Emma Fidelia, b. 1872, m. Arthur Paddock. 
Ella. b. 1874. 



ALDEN. John Alden, ancestor of most persons bearing 
the name of Alden in this country, was one of the Plymouth 
Pilgrims, and the last male survivor of those who came in the 
"Mayflower," d. at Duxbury, Sept. 12, 1687. He married in 
1621, Priscilla, daughter of William Mullins. 

John Alden (John, John, Joseph, John), b. 1797, m. 
Sarah Brooks. He d. here Feb. 23, 1851. 

Children. 
*Abner Brooks, b. Oct. 1, 1828, m. Malvina L. Alden. 
John Wesley, b. June 5, 1836, m. Fannie DeWolf. 

Abner Brooks Alden (John, John, John, Joseph, John), 
b. Oct. 1, 1828, m. April 13, 1864, Malvina L. Alden. He d. 
here July 24, 1876. 

Children. 
Hattie Belle, b. Feb. 8, 1865. 
Rosa Dell, b. Sept. 8, 1866. 
Melvin R., m. Mary Stearns. 
Harlem A., b. May, 1870, d. Feb. 27, 1875. 
John E., b. Aug. 9, 1873, d. Aug. 30, 1873. 

William Melvin Alden (Melvin, Abner, John, John, 
Joseph, John), b. Oct., 1875, m. Jan. 1, 1900, Alice Maud Flagg. 

Children. 
Hazel Irene, b. Apr. 16, 1902. 
Lillian Louise, b. Dec. 24, 1904. 
Bernice, b. June 14, 1908. 
Priscilla, b. Oct. 22, 1911. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 243 

AMES. Ebenezer Ames (Ebenezer), b. 1767, m. 
Elizabeth Jewett of Deerfield. 

Children. 
*Ebenezer, b. Nov. 19, 1793, m. Eunice Montague. 
Samuel, b. May 4, 1795, d. Oct. 3, 1798. 

FiLENA, b. Dec. 31, 1797, m. Mallory; res. Fredonia, N. Y. 

Elizabeth, b. June 21, 1799, m. Elmer. 

Ebenezer Ame.s (Ebenezer, Ebenezer), b. Nov. 19, 1793, 
m. Dec. 15, 1815, Eunice Montague of Sunderland. She was b. 
March 10, 1789, d. Sept. 2, 1880. He d. June 5, 1873. 

Children. 
*Ebenezer, b. Sept. 1, 1816, m. Caroline Shaw. 
Emily L., b. Apr. 6, 1818, m. Sept. 14, 1840, Wm. C. Campbell. 
Edwin, b. June 4, 1820, m. Sept. 12, 1843, Harriet J. Thompson of Amherst. 

He d. Dec. 24, 1850. 
*Evan Fisher, b. May 10, 1822, m. Electa C. Childs, m. (2) Caroline M. Brown. 
*JoHN Mont..\gue, b. Aug. 10, 1824, m. Caroline P. Bates. 
Elizabeth E., b. Aug. 29, 1825, d. Dec. 14, 1838. 
Elihu Carlos, b. Sept. 11, 1828, d. Apr. 29, 1848. 
Emily Houghton, b. Sept. 30, 1831, d. Nov. 16, 1846. 

Ebenezer Ames (Ebenezer, Ebenezer, Ebenezer), b. 
Sept. 1, 1816, m. Nov. 29, 1848, Caroline Shaw. She d. in 
Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 9, 1892. He d. in Holyoke, Nov. 22, 1880. 

Children. 
Elihu Burritt, b. Oct. 20, 1849, m. Dec. 2, 1873, Faith Bannister. 
William C, b. Aug. 26, 1852. 

Eben, b. . 

Eunice, b. . 

Frank, b. . 

Evan Fisher Ames (Ebenezer, Ebenezer, Ebenezer), b. 
May 10, 1822, m. Sept. 20, 1848, Electa C. Childs. She d. 
Aug. 11, 1850. He m. (2) Aug. 4, 1853, Caroline M. Brown. 
She was b. Nov. 29, 1822. He was a boot and shoe manufacturer, 
resided in Conway and removed to Montreal, Can., and d. there 
June 13, 1895. Mrs. Ames is still living (4917). 

Children. 
Herbert B., b. June 27, 1863, m. Louise M. Kennedy. He is now a member 
of the Canadian Parliament and was knighted by George, King of Eng- 
land, in 1913. 

John Montague Ames (Ebenezer, Ebenezer, Ebenezer), 
b. Aug. 10, 1824, m. Feb. 13, 1851, CaroHne P. Bates. She 
d. in Montreal, Dec. 9, 1886. He was a boot and shoe manu- 
facturer and died in Montreal, Oct. 14, 1874. 

Children. 
Eva Gertrude, b. in Conway, Apr. 28, 1854, d. in Montreal, Mar. 6, 1866. 
Minnie B., b. in Conway, Aug. 10, 1856, d. in Conway, Sept. 8, 1857. 
Carrie Montague, b. in Montreal, Apr. 5, 1864, m. in Conway, Sept. 30, 1891, 
Ale.\ander J. Patterson. 



244 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

AMSDEN. The only immigrant to this country by this 
name was Israel of Cambridge, who Hved there in 1654 and 
married Frances Perriman. She was a sister of Mrs. Daniel 
Farrabas, the ancestor of the Forbush and Forbes family in this 
country. 

Isaac Amsden (John, John, Isaac, Isaac), b. Sept. 27, 
1722, m. May 3, 1777, Hannah Catlin of Deerfield. She d. in 
Conway, March 15, 1822. He was a soldier at Louisburg in 
1745 and in the Revolutionary War in 1777. 

Children. 
*Ira, b. Mar. 1, 1783, m. Minerva Bond. 
Eunice, b. Apr. 22, 1789, m. Edward Forbes of Buckland. 
Consider, m. Mary Rice. 
Submit, m. Spinning. 

Ira Amsden (Isaac, John, John, Isaac, Isaac), b. in 
Conway, March 1, 1783, m. Minerva Bond. Shed. April 16, 1862. 

Children. 
LucRETiA, b. Jan. 11, 1813, m. Lemuel Cross. 
John, b. Sept. 6, 1814, 

Louisa, b. Mar. 30, 1816, m. Manley Smead. 
Harriet, b. Oct. 26, 1819. 
Minerva, b. Oct. 13, 1821, m. Walter Guilford. 

Capt. Elisha Amsden (John, John, Isaac, Isaac), b. 
Oct. 3, 1733, m. Sarah Billings of Sunderland. 

Children. 

Elisha, b. Jan. 18, 1767, m. Sarah . 

Amos, b. Apr. 23, 1778. 
Samuel, b. June 30, 1780. 
ZiLPHA, b. Mar. 3, 1782. 



ANDREWS. James Andrews, b. at Dighton and m. 
Susanna -j — . He d. here in 1822. 

Children. 
James, b. May 19, 1774. 
Mary, b. Nov. 19, 1775, d. Oct. 13, 1795. 
David, b. June 17, 1778, d. Apr. 20, 1779. 
John, b. July 2, 1780. 
*Benjamin, b. Aug. 10, 1782, m. Cynthia Warriner. 

Benjamin Andrews (James), b. Aug. 10, 1782, m. Cynthia 
Warriner. He d. here Aug. 6, 1865. 

Children. 
Lewis Warriner, b. Oct. 4, 1815, d. here unm. Feb. 15, 1888. 
♦Benjamin Allen, b.Feb. 5, 1819, m. Apr. 25, 1867, Mrs. Elizabeth H. (Dyer) 

Elmer. 
James, b. Nov. 26, 1820. ' 

*Hezekiah, b. May 26, 1822, m. Mary . 

Cynthia Olivia, b. Oct. 19, 1824. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 245 

Benjamin Allen Andrews (Benjamin, James), b. Feb. 
5, 1819, m. April 25, 1867, Mrs. Elizabeth H. (Dyer) Elmer. 

Children. 
Bertha, b. Apr. 8, 1868, m. Warren Crafts of Whately. 
Bessie, b. Apr. 17, 1871, m. Arthur Hale of Conway. 

Hezekl\h Andrews (Benjamin, James), b. May 26, 1822, 
m. Mary J. 

Children. 
Hezekiah O., b. Dec. 24, 1851. 
Alfreda a., b. June 23, 1853, d. Oct. 13, 1855. 
RoLLiN B., b. Apr. 16, 1855. 
Rosetta, b. June 22, 1857. 

ALLIS. Lieut. William Allis came from Scotland and 
was one of the first settlers in Hatfield in 1661, was a deacon 
and lieutenant of cavalry. 

Rev. Samuel Allis (Ichabod, John, William), b. Deer- 
field, Dec. 12, 1705, m. Nov. 4, 1729, Hannah Sheldon, daughter 
of John. She was b. 1708 and d. July 22, 1779. He was a 
graduate of Harvard College in 1724. 

Children. 
*JULlus, b. Sept. 18, 1732, m. Hannah Dickinson. 

John, b. Nov. 12, 1734, m. Sept. 13, 1764, Sarah Burt, and (2) Esther Dwight. 
Jabez, b. Nov. 12, 1734, d. young. 
Samuel, b. 1735. 
*Lucius, b. May 19, 1737, m. Jemima BHss, m. (2) Mary Wells, m. (3) Mehit- 

able Graves, m. (4) Lois Graves. 
Abel, b. Oct. 22, 1745, m. Hannah Porter. 
Lemuel, b. June 22, 1747, m. Elizabeth Davis. He was in the Re\olutionary 

War. 

Julius Allis (Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), b. Sept. 
18, 1732, m. Nov. 14, 1755, Hannah Dickinson, daughter of 
Obadiah of Hatfield. She was b. 1735, d. Sept. 3, 1814. He 
d. in Sullivan, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1817. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Oct. 4, 1756, m. Apr. 19, 1782, Abijah Brown of Whately. 
Timothy, b. July 12, 1759. He was in the Revolutionary War and d. Oct. 6, 

1776. 
Lydia, b. July 25, 1761, m. Elijah May. 

Hannah, b. Nov. 9, 1765, m. May 15, 1794, Jonathan Smith of Whately. 
Sylvia, b. Nov. 3, 1767, m. Joseph F"rost. 
Joel, b. Feb. 12, 1768, m. Sarah Lee. 
Submit, b. Sept. 22, 1772, m. Eliphas Hiskok. 
Rachel, b. Oct. 11, 1775, d. Apr. 23, 1815. 
Martha, b. Apr. 30, 1777, d. Apr. 19, 1803. 

Capt. Lucius Allis (Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), 
b. May 19, 1737, m. Dec. 10, 1761, Jemima Bliss. She d. 
June 10, 1764. Hem. (2) Aug. 14, 1765, Mary Wells. Shed. 



246 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

July 2, 1776. He m. (3) June 16, 1777, Mehitable Graves. 
Shed. lulv 31, 1800. He m. (4) May 25, 1801, Lois Graves. She 
d. March 12, 1822. 

Children. 
Zelinda, b. Jan. 7, 176v3, m. Aug. 10, 1786, Isaiah Williams of Conway. 
*Samuel, b. June 20, 1767, ni. Hannah Dickinson. 
Lucius, b. July 19, 1768, ni. Jane Cottel. 

*SoLOMON, b. Oct. 26, 1769, m. Mar. 14, 1794, Anna P. Dickinson. 
Sarah, b. Apr. 15, 1771, m. Barnabus F. Howell. He d. and she m. (2) Mar. 1, 

1827, Graves Crafts of Whately. He was in the Revolutionary War. 

The night before the execution of Major Andre, he stood on guard with 

Abel Scott, one of his neighbors. 
Thomas Wells, b. Aug. 16, 1772, m. Sally Allen. 
-Elijah, b. Dec. 5, 1773, m. Lydia Warren. 
John, b. Aug. 3, 1778, m. Nov. 27, 1805, Lois Weston. 

Samuel Allis (Lucius, Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), 
1). Jime 20, 1767, m. Hannah Dickinson. 

Children. 
Polly, b. Apr. 22, 1791. 

*Israel Dickinson, b. Julv 23, 1793, ni. Pattv Butler. 
Oliver, b. Mar. 18, 1799, d. here unm. Mar. 17, 1887. 
S.\MUEL, b. Sept. 26, 1805. 
Mercy, b. Aug. 13, 1808. 
William, b. Aug. 31, 1812. 

Israel Dickinson Allis (Samuel, Lucius, Samuel, 
Ichabod, John, William), b. July 23, 1793, m. Dec. 3, 1818, 
Pattv Butler of Buckland. She was b. Mav 5, 1797, d. March 
24, 1876. Hed. Oct. 18, 1869. 

Children. 
*THt)MAS Lawrence, b. Dec. 4, 1821, ni. Esther Dickinson of Whatelv, m. (2) 

Apr. 4, 1848, Mrs. Julia Ann (HoUis) Johnson. ' • 

*SoLOMCW D., b. Jan. 24, 1825, m. Nov. 25, 1847, Eliza J. Allis; shed. Oct. 7, 

1851; m. (2) Sally Munson Allis; she d. July 23, 1909. 
Mary A., b. Feb. 28, 1835, m. Deacon Samuel Wilder. 

Thomas Lawrence Allis (Israel D., Samuel, Lucius, 
Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), b. Dec. 4, 1821, m. Esther 
Dickinson of Whately. He m. (2) April 4, 1848, Mrs. Julia Ann 
(Hollis) Johnson. He d. Jan. 1, 1878. She d. July 23, 1909. 

Children. 
Martha, b. [an 8, 1849, ni. June 20, 1867, Orrin D. Reirington. 
*Darwin Fremont, b. Nov. 27, 1855, m. Dec. 24, 1875, Ida T. Rhood. 

Darwin Fremont Allis (Thomas L., Israel D., Samuel, 
Lucius, Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), b. Nov. 27, 1855, 
m. Dec. 24, 1875, Ida T. Rhood. 

Children. 
Winifred Blanche, b. Oct. 9, 1882, m. Oct. 9, 1905, Walter H. Barker. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 247 

Solomon D. Allis (Israel D., Samuel, Lucius, Samuel, 
Ichabod, John, William), h. Jan. 24, 1825, m. Nov. 25, 1847, 
Eliza J. Allis. She d. Oct. 7, 1851. He m. (2) March 4, 1852, 
Sally Munson Allis. She d. July 23, 1909. He d. Dec. 27, 1906. 

Children. 
Sarah E., b. Mar. 7, 1849, m. Roswell Rice. She d. Aug. 30, 1874. 
♦Charles Fisher, b. Aug. 4, 1851, m. Mar. 17, 1875, Clara M. Boyden. 
Eliza J., b. Dec, 1853. She d. Mar., 1862. 
♦William Dickinson, b. Aug. 9, 1865, ni. Feb. 16, 1886, Susie R. Wood. 

CiiARLKs F'lSHER Allis (Solomon 1)., Israel D., Samuel, 
Lucius, Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), b. Aug. 4, 1851, m. 
March 17, 1875, Clara M. Boyden. He d. Feb. 9, 1917. 

Children. 
♦George Dwicht, b. Dec. 17, 1875, m. Oct. 16, 1907. Marian L. Laidley. 
Mal-d W., b. May 3, 1877, d. Feb. 15, 1886. 
Bertha L., b. July 3, 1879, m. Jan. 7, 1906, Albert Nickerson Stanle\-. 

George Dwight Allls, b. Dec. 17, 1875, m. Oct. 16, 
1907, Marian L. Laidley. 

Children. 
Clara Elizaheth, b. Jan. 15, 1909. 
Mildred P^rances, b. July 20, 1911. 
Gertrude Helen, b. July 23, 1913. 

William Dickinson Allis (Solomon D., Israel D., 
Samuel, Lucius, Samuel, Ichabod, John, W^illiam), b. Aug. 9, 
1865, m. Feb. 16. 1886, Susie R. Wood. 

Children. 
Luna Helen, b. Oct. 9. 1892, ni. Oct. 9, 1916, Lester F. Lewis. 
Ruth McKinley, b. Nov. 13, 1896, ni. Sept. 5, 1916, Geo. Rhood. 

Solomon Allis (Lucius, Samuel, Ichabod, John, William), 
b. Oct. 26, 1769, m. Anna P. Dickinson. She d. Nov. 4, 
1864, aged 92 years. He d. Nov. 6, 1823. 

Children. 
Parthenia, l>».Jan. 17, 1794, ni. Willard Crittenden. 
Lucius, b. Sept. 2, 1796, ni. Sept. 6, 1825, Fannie A. Griswold. 
Thomas Wells, b. Aug. 3, 1798, m. Elizabeth Clen.ent. 
*JOHN D., b. June 22, 1801, m. Oct. 4, 1826, Lvdia Smith, m. (2) Hannah Hail, 

m. (3) Delia B. Taylor. 
Emily W., b. Oct. 1, 1803, m. Lyman Smith. 
Elijah B., b. Mar. 14, 1805, m. Melissa Tobey. 
Lois, b. Apr. 3, 1807, m. Asabel Stone. 
Mary Wells, b. July 3, 1809, jii. Lot Hall of Ashfield. 

Elliot Clark, b. Feb. 13, 1816, m. Alvira Dickinson and (2) Cornelia Johnson. 
Edward P., b. Feb. 9, 1819, m. Apr. 2, 1851, Isabella H. Jennings. 

John Dickinson Allis (Solomon, Lucius, Samuel, Icha- 
bod, John, William), b. June 22, 1801. m. Oct. 4, 1826, Lydia 
Smith of Whately. She d. Dec. 20, 1836. He m. (2) May 7, 



248 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

1840, Hannah Hall. She d. Oct. 22, 1852. He m. (3) March 23, 
1853, Delia Butler Taylor. She d. Oct. 10, 1886. 

Children. 
Eliza Jane, b. May 1, 1827, m. Nov. 25, 1847, Solomon D. Allis. She d. Oct. 

7, 1851. 
Sally Munson, b. Apr. 7, 1829, m. Solomon D. Allis. 
*RuFUs Wells, b. June 21, 1834, m. Hattie Ann Ballou. 
John Dickinson, b. Dec. 19, 1836, d. Jan. 15, 1863. He was the first person 

in this town to enlist in the Civil War and was the first soldier whose 

funeral was held here. He was wounded in action and died at the hospital 

on Davids Island, N. Y. 
Lois Stone, b. May 22, 1842, m. May 22, 1866, Chas. M. Smith. She d. 

Aug. 26, 1874. 
Luna, b. July 15, 1844, m. May 22, 1866, Eugene W. Woods, d. Jan. 4, 

1870. 
Paulina, b. Nov. 24, 1848, m. July 1, 1874, Geo. Thayer, d. Feb. 17, 1901. 
Hattie Alona, b. Sept. 25, 1856, d. Apr. 2, 1876. 
Samuel Baxter, b. May 10, 1858, d. Nov. 16, 1879. 
Mary Lincoln, b. July 1, 1861. Her home is in Amherst. 

RuFUS Wells Allis (John D., Solomon, Lucius, Samuel, 
Ichabod, John, William), b. June 21, 1834, m. Oct. 22, 1874, 
Hattie Ann Ballou. He d. April 7, 1907. She d. Feb., 1917. 

Children. 
John Ballou, b. Aug. 8, 1875, d. Aug. 26, 1876. 
RuFus Dickinson, b. Sept. 16, 1876. 
Edna Lillian, b. July 19, 1881, d. Aug. 3, 1881. 
Sarah Paulina, b. Jan. 14, 1884. 
George Edwin, b. Apr. 28, 1888, d. Sept. 22, 1888. 
Nicena Pearl, b. Nov. 22, 1893, d. Nov. 25, 1893. 



ARMS. William Arms was the ancestor of the Arms 
family in America. He came from either the Isle of Jersey 
or Guernsey in the English Channel. The first that is known 
of William was his marriage at Hadley in 1677 to Joanna Hawkes. 
He resided in Hatfield and Deerfield. He was a good farmer, 
industrious, religious, and economical. He would knit a pair 
of stockings while going to and returning from the mill in 
Hatfield. He held various town offices and was a soldier in 
the Indian fight at the Great Falls in 1676. He d. in 1731, 
aged 77. 

Capt. Consider Arms (Daniel, William), b. in Deerfield, 
Oct. 14, 1736, m. Dec. 11, 1765, Mercy Cathn. She was b. 
Sept. 13, 1741, d. Feb. 12, 1822. The first member of the 
family to settle in Conway was Capt. Consider. He came 
here before its incorporation and was a very large landholder. 
The deed of his first land here is dated 1762. This deed is 
still in possession of the family. He was the first town clerk 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 249 

and treasurer. His home is now in possession of his great- 
grandson, Charles D. Ives. Consider left his farm to his son 
John. Bought land in Hoosac for his son Henry. He d. 
June 19, 1792. 

Children. 
Daniel, b. July 23, 1766, ni. Laura Crosby and Nancy Thompson. 
Israel, b. Oct. 24, 1767, d. unni. Sept. 25, 1795. 
*Henrv, b. July 10, 1769, m. Experience Gates. 

SoPHLA., b. Dec. 10, 1770, m. Apr. 21, 1791, David Abbev. Rem. to Mississippi. 
Dorothy, b. Oct. 31, 1772, m. Jan. 10, 1792, Elisha VVright. 
*JoHN, b. Feb. 26, 1774, m. Martha Boltwood. 
Polly, b. Nov. 17, 1775, m. Feb. 10, 1799, Enoch Bennett. 
Mercy, b. Dec. 1, 1776, d. unm. Dec. 29, 1825. 
*Christopher, b. Oct. 7, 1777, m. Fannie Allen and Paulina Clary. 
Oliver, b. June 26, 1780, m. Sarah Hale and Nancy Williams. 
Abner, b. Aug. 16, 1781, m. Electa Hoyden. 
Louisa, b. Dec. 18, 1783, m. Oct., 1808, Job Risley. 

Clarisa, b. Dec. 17, 1786, m. July 29, 1812, Jonathan Allen of Pittsfield. 
She d. Sept. 14, 1841. 

Henry Arms (Consider, Daniel, William), b. in Conway, 
July 10, 1769, m. Jan. 31, 1798, Experience Gates. She was 
b. April 16, 1765, d. Dec. 30, 1848. He d. May 7, 1848. 

Children. 
Philena, b. Oct. 19, 1798, m. Oct. 15, 1818, Elijah Field. She d. June 10, 

1838. 
Marinda, b. Aug. 31, 1800, m. June 15, 1826, Augustus Wells. 
Eliza, b. Feb. 9, 1802, m. May 20, 1832, Ichabod F. Nelson. 
LuciNDA, b. May 18, 1804, m. Aug. 16, 1837, Samuel Barber, m. (2) Samuel 

Stebbins. 
*Consider, b. Mar. 8, 1806, m. Electa Boyden. 
Henry, b. Jan. 29, 1808, m. Lucy Hamilton. 
*Frank;lin, b. Nov. 5, 1809, m. Mary Williams. 
Cephas, b. Oct. 5, 1811, m. Hannah Clark and (2) Laura A. Taylor. 
Fannie, b. July 19, 1814, m. Jan. 1, 1834, George Stearns. 
Oliver, b. Mar. 26, 1816, m. Elizabeth Sprague and (2) Nancy Ann Williams. 
William, b. Mar. 31, 1818, m. Ann Eliza Smith. 
Clarisa, b. May 9, 1820, m. Apr. 4, 1856, Edgar Metcalf. 

Consider Arms (Henry, Consider, Daniel, William), b. 
March 8, 1806, m. June 4, 1839, Electa Boyden. He d. julv 13, 
1886. She d. March 27, 1878. 

Children. 
Luther Boyden, b. Mar. 17, 1840, d. unm. Aug. 3, 1876. 
William Edgar, b. Sept. 26, 1843, d. Oct. 27, 1843. 
*Arthur Consider, b. Oct. 15, 1849. 

Arthur C. Arms (Consider, Henry, Consider, Daniel, 
William), b. Oct. 15, 1859. m. Carrie M. Sherman. She d. Dec. 
18, 1898. He m. (2) 1902, Mrs. Sarah Miller. He d. in 1903. 

Children. 
Anna Winifred, b. Nov. 17, 1883, d. young. 
H. Sherman, b. Oct. 8, 1895. 



250 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Franklin Arms (Henry, Consider, Daniel, William), b. 
Nov. 5, 1809, m. April 26, 1837, Mary Williams of Deerfield. 
She was b. Oct. 31, 1813. They celebrated their golden wedding 
here April 26, 1887. He d. Aug. 29, 1888. She d. April 25, 
1906. 

Children. 
Charles Williams, b. Apr. 23, 1838, d. May 31, 1863. 
William Alois, b. Oct. 18, 1839, m. June 6, 1870, Martha Cornell. 
George Franklin, b. Aug. 12, 1842, m. July 7, 1870, Marv Wilkins. 
Gilbert Wheeler, b. June 20, 1846, m. Apr. 24, 1872, Lo'is W. Baker. He 

d. Aug. 29, 1898. 
Horace Williams, b. Oct. 28, 1853, m. Nov. 9, 1875, Lottie Hayden of 

Deerfield. 

Hon. John Arms (Consider, Daniel, William), b. in 
Conway, Feb. 26, 1774, m. Jan. 23, 1800, Martha Boltwood 
of Amherst. She was b. in 1779 and d. Feb. 22, 1867. He 
d. July 24, 1856. 

Hon. John Arms was a farmer in Conway, a member of the 
Constitutional Convention in Massachusetts in 1820, and of 
the Massachusetts Legislature three times — 1824, 1837, 1848; 
was county commissioner for several years. 

Children. 
Wealthy, b. Aug. 25, 1801, m. Mar. 13, 1828, Prof. Robert A. Coffin. She d. 

June 1, 1886. He d. Sept. 4, 1878. 
Dorothy, b. Feb. 25, 1803, d. unm. Oct. 30, 1883. 
Israel, b. Feb. 29, 1804, m. Julia Ann Parsons. 
Solomon Boltwood, b. Oct. 6, 1805, d. unm. F"eb. 25, 1896. 
Judith N., b. Aug. 13, 1807, m. May 20, 1827, Edmund Burke. He d. Oct. 

8, 1865. She d. Apr. 19, 1903. 
Julia Ann, b. June 6, 1809, m. Apr. 5, 1836, Rev. Dwight Ives. He was born 

Sept. 20, 1805. He was graduated at Brown Univ. in 1835, a Baptist 

clergyman in Alton, 111., and in Suffield, Conn., for thirtv yrs. He d. 

here Dec. 22, 1875. She d. Feb. 22, 1898. 
John, b. Sept. 29, 1811, d. unm. May 28, 1836. 

Martha, b. Mar. 25, 1813, m. Mar. 25, 1834, Rev. Horatio Nelson Graves. 
Elijah, b. Aug. 11, 1815, d. Apr. 23, 1908. 
Catherine, b. Oct. 8, 1817, d. unm. Nov. 27, 1842. 
Mary Jane, b. Feb. 16, 1818, m. Sept. 24, 1839, Rufus Rowe Graves. Their 

home was in Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Edward, b. Feb. 12, 1819, d. Feb. 27, 1819. 
Cornelia J., b. Oct. 21, 1820, m. Aug. 25, 1845, Erastus Augustus Graves. 

Their home was in Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Caroline, b. Aug. 14, 1822, d. unm. Apr. 20, 1845. 

Deacon Christopher Arms (Consider, Daniel, William), 
b. in Conway, Oct. 7, 1777, m. in 1803, Fannie Allen. She 
was b. Oct., 1779. She d. Sept. 14, 1810. He m. (2) Paulina 
Clary. She was b. in 1786 and d. July 3, 1858. He was a 
hatter and postmaster for 20 years, and died April 27, 1855. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 251 



Children. 



\ 



Infant, b. Dec. 13, 1803, d. same day. 

Frances M.\ria, b. June 3, 1805, d. July 27, 1805. 

Frances M.\ria, b. June 20, 1807, d. July 15, 1807. 

Thomas Allen, b. Mar. 6, 1810, m. Dec. 22, 1840, Elizabeth Hawkes. He 

d. Jan. 20, 1867. She d. Sept. 16, 1874. 
Frederick Clary, b. Oct. 14, 1815, m. Martha Allen. 
Fannie, b. July 14, 1817, m. Eliakim Sylvester. Res. in Lyons, N. Y. 
Paulin.\, b. Aug. 28, 1819, d. unm. 
Harriet, b. Oct. 13, 1823, ni. Rev. Chas. Sylvester. She d. in Feeding Hills, 

Sept. 16, 1868. 



AVERY. Deacon William Avery (William, William, 
William. Robert, William, Robert), b. Aug. 30, 1716, m. Dec. 10, 
1741, Bethia Metcalf. She was b. Nov. 15, 1715. She d. 
Dec. 25, 1792. He d. Aug. 5, 1796. 

Children. 
William, b. Oct. 3, 1742, m. Sarah Farrington and (2) Jerusha Neal. 
Jonathan, b. Sept. 15, 1744, d. Feb. 7, 1799. 
Katherine, b. Aug. 3, 1746, m. Oct. 22, 1766, Jonathan Fisher. 
Bethiah, b. Jan. 26, 1748, m. Jan. 24, 1771, Dr. Samuel Ware. 
Joseph, b. Oct. 14, 1751, m. Mary Allen. 
Grace, b. Aug. 17, 1755, m. John Howland. 
*JoHN, b. Sept. 9, 1758, m. Mary Cushman and (2) Beulah Briggs. 

Deacon John Avery (William, William, William, Wil- 
liam, Robert, William, Robert), b. Sept. 9, 1758, m. May 26, 
1784, Mary Cushman. He m. (2) Beulah Briggs. She d. June 
26, 1862, aged 91 years. 

Children. 
John, b. Jan. 9, 1786, m. Nov. 14, 1827, Ann Paine. 
Mary, b. Sept. 29, 1787, d. unm. Dec. 8, 1829. 
♦Joseph, b. Aug. 30, 1789, m. Dec. 5, 1817, Sylvia Clary. 
Lendemine, b. Apr. 7, 1791, m. James Bond. 
Rebecca, b. Nov. 30, 1793, m. Nov. 16, 1826, Silas Hawkes. 
*William, b. Sept. 16, 1795, m. Maria Howland. 
Bethiah, b..Feb. 20, 1800, m. in 1825, Benjamin Bond. 

Deacon Joseph Avery (John, William, William, William, 
William, Robert, William, Robert), b. Aug. 30, 1789, m. Dec. 5, 
1817, Sylvia Clary. She d. Sept. 5, 1851. He d. in Sparta, 
Wis., in 1870. He was noted for his unostentatious benevolence 
and piety, for showing his faith by his works. Although not 
rich, yet he gave annually large sums in \'arious ways to spread 
the gospel. He was elected trustee of Mount Holyoke Seminary 
in 1836. 



252 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Dec. 13, 1818, m. Dec, 1847, Rev. Robert McGill Loughridge. 

They were missionaries to the Creek Indians. She d. Jan. 20, 1850. He 

d. in Waco, Tex., July 8, 1900. 
Joseph Clary, b. Feb. 1, 1823, d. in 1862. He was a civil engineer and 

surveyed a route for a railroad across the Tehuantepec Isthmus. 
Caroline, b. Jan. 20, 1825, m. Jan. 17, 1850, Norton A. Halbert. 
*WiLLiAM Fisher, b. Dec. 4, 1826, m. Eunice Smith Wright. 
Amelia, b. July 22, 1829, d. Aug. 29, 1829. 

Pauline, b. Jan. 14, 1831, m. Rev. O. L. Woodford. She d. Feb., 1858. 
John, b. Sept. 18, 1837, m. Cornelia A. Curtiss. 

Rev. William Fisher Avery (Joseph, John, William, 
William, William, William, Robert, William, Robert), b. Dec. 4, 
1826, m. Sept. 19, 1854, Eunice S. Wright of Huntington. 
She was b. Aug. 12, 1829, and d. April 24, 1890. He d. Nov. 6, 1903. 

Children. 
*WlLLiAM GooDELL, b. May 31, 1856, in Sparta, Wis., m. Nov. 1, 1882, Elizabeth 
Benson Hall of Rockland, Me. 

William Goodell Avery (William F., Joseph, John, 
William, William, William, William, Robert, William, Robert), 
b. May 31, 1856, in Sparta, Wis., m. Nov. 1, 1882, Elizabeth 
Benson Hall of Rockland, Maine. He was cashier of the 
Conway Bank for over 20 years, a member of the school board, 
and was one of the trustees of the Field Memorial Library. 

Children. 
William Frederick, b. Nov. 27, 1887. 
Webb Reed, b. June 24, 1889. 

Deacon William Avery (John, William, William, Wil- 
liam, William, Robert, William, Robert), b. Sept. 16, 1795, 
m. Maria Howland. He d. April 25, 1853. She d. June 1, 1888. 



BAKER. Edward Baker, born in England, came to 
this country in 1630, moved to Northampton in 1639- One 
of his sons was Lieut. Timothy Baker of Northampton. He 
was prominent in public affairs, selectman, ensign of the Train 
Band. His son, Capt John, b. in Northampton, Feb. 3, 1680, 
m. June 1, 1709, Rebecca Clark, daughter of Deacon John 
Clark. She was b. in 1651 and died in 1740. One of Capt. 
John's sons was Rev. Noah Baker, m. Sarah Burt and moved 
to Sunderland. His homestead there is now owned by his 
great-grandson, Isaac S. H. Gunn. Some of the silverware 
which belonged to Sarah Burt is now in the possession of some 
of the descendants living in Conway. Deacon Joel Baker, one 
of the sons of Rev. Noah Baker, was born in Sunderland in 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 253 

1741, m. Oct. 22, 1761, Sarah Graves. She was b. in 1739 and 
d. Aug. 12, 1819. They moved to Conway in 1768, and he 
d. July 28, 1817. He was deacon for 30 years. 

Children. 
*Is.\AC, b. Oct. 31, 1762, m. Lois Wright. 
LoviXA, b. Oct. 7, 1764, m. Mar. 4, 1784, Daniel Newhall. 
Joel, b. May 7, 1768. 
Pamelia, ni. in 1793, Simeon Merritt. 

Isaac Baker (Joel, Noah, John, Timothy, Edward), b. 
Oct. 31, 1762, m. Feb. 6, 1786, Lois Wright of Deerfield. She 
d. Oct. 5, 1858, aged 92. He d. March 20, 1839. 

Children. 
*WiLLiAM, b. Jan. 5, 1787, m. Hannah Frary. 
Lois, b. Aug. 24, 1789, m. Feb. 22, 1821, Chas. Hitchcock. 
Charles, b. June 14, 1798. He was killed by lightning while on a visit to his 

native town, May 29, 1829. 
Charlotte, b. May 21, 1802, m. Col. Austin Rice. 

William Baker (Isaac, Joel, Noah, John, Timothy, 
Edward), b. Jan. 5, 1787, m. Hannah Frary. She d. July 31, 
1856. He d. March 5, 1870. 

Children. 
Sarah Gr.wes, b. Aug. 12, 1819, m. Dennis Stearns. 
*Willl\m, b. May 31, 1821, m. Miriam Frary Orcutt. 

William Baker (William, Isaac, Joel, Noah, John, 
Timothy, Edward), b. May 31, 1821, m. Nov. 17, 1840, Miriam 
Frary Orcutt. 

Children. 
Isaac P., b. Dec. 19, 1844, ni. Julia E. Nye of Fall River. 
Lois Wright, b. Dec. 19, 1850, m. Apr. 24, 1872, Gilbert W. Arms. 

BARTLETT. The gcneaiogA- is known to go back to three 
brothers, John, Richard and Thomas, who came to America 
in 1634. The two former settled at Newbury, Mass. 

Thomas Bartlett (Richard, Richard, Richard), b. July 
14, 1695, in Newbury, m. March 12, 1719, Mary Bartlett of 
Brookfield. She d. Jan. 12, 1751. He d. Dec. 7, 1754. 

Children. 
Joseph, b. Jan 24, 1720. 

Aaron, b. Oct. 28, 1721, m. Jan. 31, 1845, Hannah Jennings. 
Moses, b. Mar. 3, 1723, m. June 8, 1744, Marv Bell. 
Elijah, b. Mar. 6, 1725, m. Jan. 10, 1749, Bathsheba Gilbert. 
Miriam, b. Mar. 25, 1727, m. May 1, 1775, Ithamar Bowker. 
Matthew, b. July 8, 1728, m. Mrs. Susanna Bell. 
Obadiah, b. Apr. 5, 1730, m. May 9, 1753, Rebecca Adams. 
Hannah, b. Oct. 31, 1/31, m. June 5, 1755, Jeremiah Gould. 
Ebenezer, b. Oct. 8, 1733, m. Jan. 17, 1765, Deliverance Lee. 
*Adoniram, b. Sept. 10, 1735, m. Miriam Marsh. 
Mary, b. Feb. 2, 1740, m. Dec. 9, 1757, Samuel Barnes. 
Lvdia, b. Apr. 26, 1742, m. Jan., 1770, Moses Barnes. 



254 HISTORY OF CONWAY, 

Adoniram Bartlett (Thomas, Richard, Richard, Rich- 
ard), b. in West Brookfield, Sept. 10, 1735, m. Feb. 4, 1761, Mir- 
iam Marsh. She d. Jan. 26, 1822. He d. Sept. 23, 1805. 
Children. 

*Amos, b. in Brookfield May 27, 1762, m. Lucy Merritt and Susanna . 

*Jeduthan, b. Dec. 15, 1763, m. Mercy Glover. 
*Samuel b. April 15, 1774, m. Sarah Graves. 
*LuTHER, b. May 29, 1782, m. Anna Nims. 
Adoniram, b. Sept. 12, 1785, m. Anna . 

Amos Bartlett (Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, Richard, 
Richard), b. in Brookfield, May 27, 1762, m. Oct. 29, 1787, 

Lucv Merritt. She d. May 20, 1808. He m. (2) Susanna . 

Hed. Dec. 11, 1834. 

Children. 

*Chester, b. Sept. 6, 1788, m. Betsey — ^, ni. (2) Sophia . 

Clarissa, b. Jan. 10, 1790. 

*Prescott, b. Aug. 8, 1791, m. Narcissa Robinson. 

Lucv, b. June 5, 1793. 

Lyman, b. May 21, 1796. 

D WIGHT, b. May 8, 1798. 

Coram, b. Apr. 18, 1800. 

Miriam, b. Nov. 10, 1811, d. Dec. 23, 1815. 

Sarah, b. Feb. 19, 1813. 

DwiGHT, b. Mar. 11, 1816, ni. Clarissa Pike Vincent. 

Lyman, b. June 2, 1818. 

Isaac Chaney, b. June 2, 1822. 

Chester Bartlett (Amos, Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, 

Richard, Richard), b. Sept. 6, 1788, m. Betsey . Shed. 

Nov. 22, 1813. M. (2) Sophia . 

Children. 
Betsey, b. Sept. 6, 1813. 

Celia Sophia, b. Mar. 29, 1826, m. Luther Bartlett, Jr. 
Chester Dewey, b. Mar. 5, 1828. 

Capt. Prescott Bartlett (Amos, Adoniram, Thomas, 
Richard, Richard, Richard), b. Aug. 8, 1791, m. Narcissa 
Robinson. He d. Oct. 12, 1832. 

Children. 
Narcissa, b. Sept. 10, 1815, d. June 27, 1831. 
Watson Robinson, b. Mar. 21, 1817. 
Clarissa, b. Oct. 22, 1819, m. George Francis Wilson. Shed. June 12, 1880. 

He d. Jan. 19, 1883. 
Prescott, b. Aug. 23, 1821. 
Benjamin F., b. Feb. 19, 1823. 
Emerson, b. Sept. 14, 1827. 

Jeduthan Bartlett (Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, Rich- 
ard, Richard), b. Dec. 15, 1763, m. Mercy Glover. He d. 
Oct. 21, 1845. 



I 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 255 

Children. 
Harriet, b. Mar. 17, 1792, m. Silas Redfield. 
Billy, b. Nov. 30, 1795. 

Samuel Bartlett (Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, Rich- 
ard, Richard), b. April 15, 1774, m. Oct. 5, 1799, Sarah Graves. 
He d. May 19, 1845. 

Children. 
*r)EXTER, b. Nov. 3, 1800, m. Sarah Sherman. 
Edward, b. Oct. 5, 1802. 
Zeviah, b. Julv 26, 1804, in. Willard Lee. 
Miranda, b. Nov. 18, 1806. 
Sarah G., b. Feb. 17, 1813. 

Dexter Bartlett (Samuel, Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, 
Richard, Richard), b. Nov. 3, 1800, m. Sarah Sherman. She 
d. March 1, 1867. He d. Jan. 3, 1877. 

Children. 
Ophelia, b. in 1832, m. May 1, 1851, Jonathan W. Dickinson. 

Sarah, b. in 1836, m. Sherman, she d. Jan. 19, 1863. 

Amelia, b. Aug., 1838, d. unm. Jan. 12, 1866. 
Clara, b. in 1842, d. Dec. 25, 1872. 

Luther Bartlett (Adoniriim, Thomas, Richard, Richard, 
Richard), b. May 29, 1782, m. Jan. 15, 1807, Anna Nims of 
Deerfield. She was b. Jan. 12, 1782, d. May 3, 1850. He d. 
Jan. 26, 1855. 

Children. 
Lyman, b. Nov. 21, 1807, m. Rebecca Gooding and Elizabeth Swaine. 
Franklin, b. Mar. 27, 1809, m. Esther Coolev Anderson. 
Julia Elma, b. Sept. 21, 1810, d: Jan. 24, 1815. 
Edwin, b. Oct. 6, 1812, m. Eliza Hamilton and Mary Smith. 
Julia Elma, b. Aug. 19, 1814, m. Mar. 26, 1841, Wm. Wilcox. She d. Feb. 

16, 1879. 
Luther, b. Julv 21, 1817, m. Sophia Bartlett. 
Dares, b. Aug.' 14, 1821, d. at Benetia, Cal., Dec. 29, 1849. 
*Alfred, b. Oct. 4, 1827, m. Lydia Sherman. 

Alfred Bartlett (Luther, Adoniram, Thomas, Richard, 
Richard, Richard), b. Oct. 4, 1827, m. Dec. 21, 1850, Lydia 
Sherman. She was b. Sept. 24, 1830. He d. 1914. 

Children . 
Dares E., b. Apr. 3, 1852, m. Harriet J. Field. 
Emily S., b. Apr. 3, 1854. 
Edwin L., b. Nov. 29, 1856, d. June 28, 1896. 
Anna C., b. Nov. 14, 1864. 

Dr. Phinehas Bartlett (Moses), b. at Portland, Conn., 
Feb. 15, 1745, m. in Ashfield, Sept. 14, 1768, Mehitable Annable. 
She was b. Sept. 9, 1750, d. Oct. 31, 1780. He m. (2) March 20, 
1781, Mrs. Sarah (Symonds) Ballard. She d. Jan. 9, 1882. He 
d. Oct. 29, 1799. When he came to Ashfield in 1756 from 



256 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Connecticut, it was an almost unbroken wilderness. There 
were only fifteen families in the township. Conway was not 
discovered. He bought a farm to help support his family. He 
had quite a wonderful personality, which brought him the 
esteem of the community. 

Children. 

Mehitable, b. Nov. 14, 1769, m. Smith, lived in Marcellus, N. Y. 

Moses, b. Apr. 22, 1772, m. Feb. 1, 1801, Persis Ranney. 
H.\NNAH, b. Apr. 27, 1774, m. Calvin Hale of Greenfield. 
Lydia, b. Jan. 17, 1782, d. unm. June 15, 1809. 
*Phinehas, b. Aug. 8, 1783, m. Pamelia Pomeroy. 
Jercsha, b. Apr. 31, 1785, d. unm. Jan. 7, 1861. 
Horatio, b. Oct. 8, 1790, d. unm. Feb. 23, 1836. 
William, b. Jan. 7, 1793, m. Stata Saxton Hawkes. 

Phinehas Bartlett (Phinehas, Moses), b. in Ashfield, 
Aug. 8, 1783, m. March 15, 1809, Pamelia Pomerov of Buckland. 
She was b. Dec. 2, 1787, and d. March 29, 1850. He d. Nov. 21, 
1865. He came to Conway in early life as a harness maker. 
He was for years a justice of the peace and something of a lawyer. 

Children. 
*Theodore, b. Nov. 27, 1809, m. Fidelia McGee and (2) Mrs. Lucy W. Fiske. 
William, b. Mar. 12, 1815, m. Aurora Clark. 

Pamelia Pomeroy, b. Feb. 19, 1817, ni. Jan. 5, 1842, Joshua Knowlton Rogers. 
Phinehas Pomeroy, b. Oct. 5, 1821. 
Levi Lyman, b. Sept. 25, 1823, d. Nov. 27, 1851. 
Phinehas, b. Aug. 28, 1826, m. Lydia Ingraham of North Adams. 
Sarah Achsah, b. Sept. 2, 1829, d. in Syracuse, N. Y., in 1910. 

Theodore Bartlett (Phinehas, Phinehas, Moses), b. Con- 
way, Nov. 27, 1809, m. May 4, 1841, Fidelia McGee of Colerain. 
She was b. June 15, 1815, d. April 18, 1867. He m. (2) June 9, 
1868, Mrs. Lucy W. Fiske. She d. in 1890. He d. Dec. 16, 

1880. 

Children. 
*William M., b. Aug. 21, 1842, m. Lucy C. Barlow. 
Joshua Allen, b. May 15, 1844, d. Nov. 16, 1847. 
*Henry Dawes, b. July 31, 1846, m. Alice (Dickinson) Burnett. 
Phinehas Allen, b. Nov. 3, 1848, m. Lizzie Gray. 
Levi Lyman, b. Nov. 15, 1851, m. Cora Arms. 
Charles McGee, b. May 31, 1854, m. Fannie F. Griener. 
Francis Sydney, b. June 27, 1856, m. Fannie ^ — — . 
Anna Fidelia, b. Aug. 31, 1862, m. Nov. 18, 1886, Chas. C. Gray. 

William Myrtle Bartlett (Theodore, Phinehas, Phin- 
ehas, Moses), b. Aug. 21, 1842, m. Oct. 25, 1882, Lucv C. Barlow. 
Hed. in 1911. 

Children . 
Mabel Fidelia, b. Oct. 12, 1883, m. Walter Brown. 
Ethel B., b. Dec. 5, 1887. 
Theodore A., b. June 26, 1900. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 257 

Henry Dawes Bartlett (Theodore, Phinehas, Phinehas, 
Moses), b. July 31, 1846, m. Jan. 30, 1872, Mrs. Alice (Dickinson) 
Burnett. She was b. June 16, 1847. 

Children. 
Charles Henry, b. Oct. 19, 1875, d. Oct. 21, 1875. 
May P'iDELlA, b. May 19, 1877, m. Aug. 10, 1898, Frank B. Stowe. 
George Henry, b. Feb. 2, 1880. 



BATCHELDER. The first of the name was Joseph, who 

emigrated to America in 1636. He came with his wife, Eliza- 
beth, settled first in Salem and later in Wenham. He was the 
first representative of the town of W'enham in 1644. 

Amos Batchelder (Amos, David, John, Joseph), b. in 
Wenham, Dec. 17, 1761, m. June 9, 1786, Huldah Kimball. 
She was b. Jan. 23, 1763, d. Feb. 14, 1846, the daughter of 
Deacon Caleb and Huldah Cue Kimball. He was a soldier in 
the Revolutionary War. He was one of the early pioneers of 
Francistown, N. H., making their way there through the woods 
by following marked trees. Here he made his home, building 
a house in which he H\ed until he died, Sept. 20, 1843. 

Children. 
*Amos, b. N(n-. 10, 1788, m. Frances Hawkes. 
Moses, b. in 1790, ni. Lucy Nash. 

Huldah, b. July 29, 1791, m. Aug. 15, 1815, John Richardson. 
Israel, b. Sept. 20, 1793, ni. Lydia Dole. 
*KiMBALL, b. Aug. 8, 1796, m. Armenia Siearns. 
Levi, b. Dec. 20, 1798, m. Cornelia Balch and (2) Asenalh Pitcher. 
Perkins, b. May 20, 1802, d. Julv 2, 1829. 
ROXANA, b. Jan. 19, 1805, in. May 22, 1832, Buckman Fairbanks. 

Amos Batchelder (Amos, Amos, David, John, Joseph), 
b. in Francistown, N. H., Nov. 10, 1788, m. in Deerfield, Mass., 
Jan. 25, 1814, Frances Heiwkes. He d. Sept. 22, 1836, a resident 
of Conway. He was a merchant. She d. Dec. 11, 1880. 

Children. 
*Lansford, b. Oct. 29, 1815, m. Freelove Bates. 
Warren, b. Oct. 7, 1818, d. May 27, 1844. 
Amos Perkins, b. Mar. 6, 1827, d. May 29, 1831. 

Lansford Batchelder (Amos, Amos, x-Xmos, David, 
John, Joseph), b. in Conwav, Oct. 29, 1815, m. in Ashfield, 
Mass., Jan. 2, 1840, Freelove Bates. He d. March 7, 1899. She d. 
Feb. 24, 1904. 

Children. 
Perkins, b. Feb. 20, 1843, ni. Jan. 13, 1869, Nellie C. Abel of Southwick. 



258 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Kimball Batchelder (Amos, Amos, David, John, 
Joseph), b. in Francistown, N. H., Aug. 8, 1796, m. Nov. 9, 1825, 
Armenia Stearns. He d. April 6, 1876. She d. Dec, 1880. 

Children. 
Mary S., b. Sept. 1, 1826, m. Nov. 28, 1850, George Atwood Waite. 
Caroline, b. Jan. 16, 1829, m. Oct. 3, 1850, Elias A. Wilson, Francistown, N. 

H. 
*Carlos, b. Jan. 16, 1829, m. Minerv-a A. Forbes. 
Fannie Amelia, b. Dec. 19, 1831, ni. Jan. 4, 1855, Edwin Andrews of Shel- 

burne, Mass.. She d. June 10, 1856. 
Roxana, b. Dec. 26, 1833, m. June 4, 1856, Caleb E. Forbes of Buckland. 

Hon. Carlos Batchelder (Kimball, Amos, Amos, 
David, John, Joseph), b. in Conway, Jan. 16, 1829, m. May 28, 
1851, Minerva A. Forbes of Buckland. She was b. Aug. 25, 
1830. He d. Dec. 20, 1901. She is still living. 

Childreji. 
*WiLLiAM K., b. Oct. 1, 1854, m. Josephine L. Foote. 
*Frederick C., b. Aug. 15, 1861, m. Mary E. Vining. 
Minnie E., b. Dec. 29, 1873, d. Jan. 25, 1875. 
Carrie, b. Jan. 11, 1875, d. Jan. 17, 1875. 

William K. Batchelder (Carlos, Kimball, Amos, Amos, 
David, John, Joseph), b. Oct. 1, 1854, m. Josephine L. Foote. 
She was b. Nov., 1856. 

Childre7i. 
Mabel L., b. Aug. 19, 1875, m. Aug. 17, 1894, Wilham Brown. 
Anna S., b. Jan. 19, 1878, m. June 5, 1895, William T. Graves. 
W. Forbes, b. Sept. 6, 1880, m. June 5, 1901, Julia I. Mason. 
Minnie A., b. Feb. 23, 1883, m. Mar. 1, 1905, Byron Brown. 
Mary J., b. Aug. 15, 1884, m. Feb. 22, 1908, Chas. L. Fessenden. 
Carlos F., b. May 6, 1887, m. June 26, 1906, Lillian Schneck. 
Emerson F., b. Nov. 12, 1891, m. Dec. 17, 1914, Helen Stone. 
■ Harold W., b. Apr. 20, 1897. 

Frederick C. Batchelder (Carlos, Kimball, Amos, 
Amos,, David, John, Joseph), b. Aug. 15, 1861, m. Feb. 14, 1889, 
Mary E. Vining. She was b. Oct. 7, 1858. For the past 35 
years he has been station agent for the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R, 
at Conway Station. 

Children. 
Amy v., b. Aug. 1, 1891, d. Jan. 3, 1892. 
Walter F., b. Apr. 23, 1893, d. Mar. 9, 1894. 



BATES. Zelotus Bates (Ephraim), b. in Hawley, May 
12, 1795, m. in Conwav, Dec. 27, 1828, Lydia Maynard. She 
was b. March 3, 1790, and d. March 10, 1866. He m. (2) 
Jan. 20, 1869, Mrs. Sarah (Porter) Coats. He d. April 24, 1884. 

Children. 
♦Austin Turner, b. Sept. 29, 1829. 



i 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 259 

Austin Turner Bates (Zelotus, Ephraim), b. Sept. 29, 
1829, m. in Colerain, June 22, 1854. Sarah Sabin Porter. He 
d. March 29, 1900. She d. Aug. 9, 1906. 

Children. 
Laura Turner, b. Nov. 1, 1857. 
Henry Austin, b. Mar. 29, 1861. 
Mary Cornelia, b. June 27, 1865. 

Ira Bates, b. 1792, m. Rosilla Burnett. She d. July 18, 
1883. He d. May 4, 1856. 

Children. 
*Alpheus G., b. 1826, ni. Lucy Bishop. 
■M.A.RIA, m. Leonard Stearns. 
Sabra, m. May 10, 1849, Wm. Stearns. 
Freelove, m. Lansford Batchelder. 
Dennis, m. Laura W. Elmer. 
Mary, b. 1835, d. unm. Dec. 3, 1853. 

Alpheus G. Bates (Ira), b. 1826, m. Lucy Bishop of 
Cummington. He d. in Conway, Aug. 7, 1878. 

Children. 
*Ira Clifford, b. Nov. 14, 1850, m. Dec. 26, 1872, Laura B. Culver. 
William Clinton, b. Nov. 26, 1854, m. Leanora Dailey. 
Carrie Rosilla, b. Aug. 26, 1860, m. Oct. 31, 1877, G. W. Boyden. 

Ira Clifford Bates (Alpheus, Ira), b. Nov. 14, 1850, 
m. Dec. 26, 1872, Laura B. Culver. He d. June 8, 1916. 

Children. 
Fred Clarence, b. Nov. 8, 1873, ni. Lulu Pulsifer. 
Adelbert G., b. Jan. 27, 1876. 
Henry WiLGUS, b. Nov. 21, 1883. 
Howard Edison, b. Feb. 19, 1885. 
Walter Clinton, b. Aug. 7, 1890. 



BEMENT. Chester Bement (Samuel), b. Sept. 3, 1795, 
m. Polly Newhall. She d. May 1, 1867. He d. Dec. 10, 1864. 

Children. 
*Stephen Hosmer, b. Sept. 21, 1820, m. Paulina Clark. 
*Chester Newhall, b. Jan. 2, 1825, m. Loretta Fisher. 
Louisa Ann Elizabeth, b. Sept. 9, 1829. 
*WiLLi.\M, b. Mar. 25, 1832, m. Sarah M. Taylor. 
Lovinta, b. June 22, 1834, m. Hosea A. Jones. 

Stephen Hosmer Bement (Chester, Samuel), b. Sept. 21, 
1820, m. PauHna Clark. He d. in 1867. 

Children. 
Paulina, b. June 1, 1849, m. Dec. 1, 1876, Alva Eldredge. 



260 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Chester Newhall Bement (Chester, Samuel), b. Jan. 2, 
1825, m. Loretta Fisher. She d. Julv 15, 1875. He d. Jan. 3, 
1885. 

Children . 
Charles N., b. May 12, 1859, d. Sept. 19, 1863. 
Frederick A., b. Jan., 1862, d. June 15, 1884. 

William Bement (Chester, Samuel), b. March 25, 1832, 
m. Sarah M. Taylor. She d. Oct. 29, 1874. 

Children. 
*WiLLiAM HosMER, b. Sept. 16, 1863, m. Cora Lee. 
Chester B., b. Aug. 10, 1865. 

Pauline H., b. . 

Cora M., b. Julv 13, 1869, d. Apr. 28, 1886. 
Herbert, b. Julv 17, 1871, d. Oct. 21, 1874. 
George Newhall, b. Nov. 18, 1873, d. Oct. 31, 1874. 

William Hosmer Bement (William, Chester, Samuel), 
b. Sept. 16, 1863, m. March 30, 1886, Cora Lee. She was b. 
Jan. 23, 1865. 

Children. 
Anna Maud, b. Mar. 19, 1887, ni. June 27, 1906, Joseph Antes. 
Lucy Sarah, b. June 27, 1888, ni. June 10, 1909, Alonzo Graves. 



BIGELOW BIGLO. John Biglo is the ancestor of the 
American Bigelows. John, the elocjuent, was a blacksmith, 
and was located in Watertown. 

John Bigelow (Joshua, Joshua, John), b. in Weston, 
Mass., Jan. 4, 1715, m. Nov. 29, 1739, Grace Allen. He was 
in the Indian wars and was a soldier in 1757 in Capt. Samuel 
Davis' Company. 

Children. 
Lucy, b. May 27, 1740, m. Joseph Dutton, Jr. 
Beulah, b. Sept. 20,. 1741, m. Jonas Hall. 
*JoHN, b. Nov. 8, 1743, m. Molly Melvin. 
Nathan, b. Nov. 8, 1743, ni. Elizabeth Oakes. 
Sarah, b. F"eb. 12, 1745, m. in 1766 Thomas Dalton. 
Silas, b. Mar. 17, 1750, m. Rachel Pitts. 
Simeon, b. Apr. 12, 1752, m. Sarah Foster, m. (2) Elizabeth Avery, m. (3) Mrs. 

Sarah Avery. 
Molly, b. Apr. 6, 1754. 

Grace, b. Apr. 22, 1757, ni. Stephen Hall Ashley. 
Eunice, b. Sept. 14, 1760. 

John Bigelow (John, Joshua, Joshua, John), b. in 
Weston, Nov. 8, 1743, m. Sept. 11, 1770, Molly Melvin. 
Removed to Conway, where he d. Feb. 14, 1822. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 261 

Childrefi. 
*JONATHAN, b. Jan. 25, 1773, m. Susanna Brooks. 
Silas, b. May 7, 1775, ni. Anna Brooks. 
Isaac, b. Oct. 27, 1780, m. Betsey Peck. 

Abner, b. Oct. 25, 1783, ni. Cynthia Louise Guilford and Eliza Pullcn. 
*Samuel, b. Aug. 22, 1785, m. Electa Wilder. 
Molly, b. July 9, 1787, m. William Medister. 
Rebecc.\, b. Apr. 21, 1790, m. Cheney Look of Peru. 
Clarissa, b. Oct. 14, 1794, ni. Orra Sherman. 
Moses Foster, b. in 1798, m. Mary Bardweli. 

JoxATiiAX Bi(;i<:l()\v (John, John, Joshua, Joshua, John), 
b. Jan. 25, 1773, ni. in 1798, Susanna Brooks. He d. Nov. 12, 
1819. Shed. Oct. 30, 1861. 

Children. 
Ihi.DAH, 1). Oct. 1(), 17'>8, ni. in 1821, Wilder Truesdeli. 
Jonathan Brooks, b. Apr. 12, 1800, m. Relief Xevvhall. 
Mary, b. Sept. 25, 1801, d. unm. 
Anna, b. June 23, 1804, m. Zebulon Paine. 

Sullivan, b. Mar. 26, 1806, m. Nov. 12, 1837, Prudence .Augusta Dyer. 
Samuel, b. Feb. 22, 1807, m. Anna Jane Brooks. 
Jane, b. Jan. 18, 1809, m. William Warren. 
*H.\RVEV, b. Aug. 25, 1810, m. Sarah Jane Brooks. 
Esther, b. Jan. 15, 1813, m. Nathan Emerson. 

Sumner, b. July 6, 1815, m. Hannah . 

Amos, b. Apr. 2, 1817, m. Mary Ann Curtis. 

Harvey Bigelow (Jonathan, John, John, Joshua, Joshua, 
John), b. Aug. 25, 1810, m. Sarah j. Brooks. She d. Jan. 29, 
1843. He d. Oct. 7, 1874. 

Children. 
Harvey Willaru, b. Feb. V^, 1834, d. unm. Feb. 25, 1874. 
*HuBBARU, b. May 16, 1836, m. Mary J. Bates. 
Moses, b. Feb. 23', 1840. 

Hubbard Bic.elow (Harvey, Jonathan, John, John, 
Joshua, Joshua, John), b. IVhiy 16, 1836, m. Nov. 9, 1864, 
Mary J. Bates. She d. Sept. 11, 1868. 

Children. 
Nellie M., m. to Chas. Dole. 
William H., b. Aug. 6, 1867. 

Samuel Bigelow (John, |ohn, Joshua, Joshua, John), 
b. Aug. 22, 1785, m. Electa Wilder. She was b. 1791, and 
d. Nov. 23, 1872. He d. May 29, 1839. 

Children. 
Consider Wilder, b. July 19, 1814, m. Elizabeth R. Hunt. 
Increase Briggs, b. June 28, 1817, m. Sophronia Hall. 
Samuel, b. Mar. 12, 1819, m. Calista Look. 
Silas, b. Apr. 25, 1820, m. Jane Tower. 
Electa, b. Aug. 4, 1822, m. Samuel Bigelow. 
*WiLLiAM, b. June 16, 1827, m. Sarah Louise Puffer. 
Franklin, b. Mar. 31, 1829, m. Juliet Dickinson. 
Mary S.\LINA, b. May 12, 1831, m. Noah Graves. 



262 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

William Bigelow (Samuel, John, John, Joshua, Joshua, 
John), b. June 16, 1827, m. Sept. 17, 1850, Sarah Louise 
Puffer of Leominster. He d. Dec. 22, 1866. 

Children . 
William Franklin, b. July 13, 1851, m. Frances Elizabeth Hamilton. 
Flora Electa, b. July 22, 1857. 



BILLINGS. Richard Billings and his wife Margery came 
from England and were in Hartford before 1640, and removed 
to Hatfield about 1661. One of their children was Samuel, 
who was born in England and was ancestor of the Conway line. 

Ebenezer Billings (Samuel, Richard), b. in Hatfield, 
Oct. 29, 1669, m. 1690, Hannah Church. He was one of the 
forty proprietors and first settlers of Sunderland. He d. Nov. 
14, 1745, and his wife d. Oct. 11, 1756. 

Children. 
Samuel, b. June 7, 1693. 

Ebenezer, b. Nov. 19, 1695, m. Editha Gunn. 
John, b. Nov. 26, 1698, m. Mary Chapin and Mary Bodman. 
Mary, b. May 24, 1701, m. Jonathan Field. 
*Fellows, b. Feb. 15, 1704, m. Mary Eastman of Hadley. 
Edward, b. Aug. 10, 1707, m. Lucy Parsons. 
Jonathan, b. June 10, 1710, m. Mary Root. 

Hon. Fellows Billings (Ebenezer, Samuel, Richard), 
b. Feb. 15, 1704, in Hatfield, m. Nov. 27, 1735, Mary Eastman 
of Hadley. She d. in Dec, 1799. He d. June 29, 1784. He 
removed to Conway in 1775-80. 

Children. 
Aaron, b. Aug. 15, 1736, m. Caroline Adams. 
Mary, b. Sept. 15, 1738, d. June 12, 1744. 
Ruth, b. July 10, 1742, m. Oct. 20, 1763, Joseph Ashley, Jr. 
*WiLLiAM, b. July 20, 1744, m. Jerusha Williams. 
*Elisha, b. Oct. 1, 1749, m. Betsey Williams; m. (2) Mrs. Mary (Storrs) 

Hovey. 
Hannah, b. Feb. 24, 1754, m. Dec. 31, 1781, Elisha Dickinson. 

Deacon William Billings (Fellows, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Richard), b. in Sunderland, July 20, 1744, m. Jan. 1, 1772, 
Jerusha Williams. She was b. July 18, 1747, d. April 3, 1821. 
He removed to Conway and practiced law here, being the first 
lawyer in this place. He d. Nov. 8, 1812. 

Children. 
William, b. Feb. 9, 1777, m. Abigal Smith of Hadley. 
Mary Williams, b. Feb. 21, 1779, m. Veh. 4, 1798, Dr. John Stoddard of 

Northampton. 
*Charles Eugene, b. Dec. 2, 1781, m. Sally W. Storrs of Longmeadow. 
Israel Williams, b. Jan. 12, 1784, m. Hepsibeth D. Partridge. 
Jerusha Williams, b. June 4, 1786, d. unm. July 4, 1813. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 263 

Col. Ch.vrlks Eugene Billings (William, Fellows, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Richard), b. Dec. 2, 1781, m. Nov. 9, 1808, 
Sally Williston Storrs. She d. Jan. 4, 1864. He d. Sept., 1869. 

Children. 

Jerusha Williams, b. Oct. 3, 1809, m. Nov. 3, 1831, Rev. Prof. Bela Bates 
Edwards. She established a school for young ladies in Andover which 
was continued for manv years. 

S.\RAH Williston, b. Apr. 6, 1812, d. unm. Oct. 18, 1844. 

Charles Storrs, b. Apr. 6, 1812, m. Hannah Eggert. 

William, b. Nov. 8, 1816, d. unm. Jan. 13, 1848. Was a physician in Spring- 
field. 

Richard Salter, b. Sept. 29, 1820, m. Mary H. Hurlbut. 

Maria Louisa, b. Aug. 7, 1825, m. Rev. Wm. C. Mosher. She d. Jan. 4, 
1863. 

Edw.\rd Payson, b. July 9, 1828, unm., res. in San Francisco, Cal. 

H.\rriet Storrs, b. May 21, 1832. 

Elizabeth Storrs, b. May 21, 1832, m. Aug. 5, 1858, Rev. Prof. Hiram Mead, 
D.D. She was for twelve years president of Mount Holyoke College. 
She died March 25, 1917. 

Deacon Elisha Billings (Fellows, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Richard), b. in Sunderland, Oct. 1, 1749, m. Feb. 9, 1780, Betsey 
Williams of Hatfield. She d. March 17, 1786. He m. (2) 
Oct. 28, 1805, Mrs. Mary (Storrs) Hovey. She d. July 4, 1856. 
He d. Aug. 7, 1825. 

Children. 
*Henry Percy, b. Dec. 24, 1780, m. Emily Hitchcock. 
Elisha, b. Jan. 9, 1785, d. unm. in 1858. 

Louise Storrs, b. Oct. 27, 1806, m. July 13, 1836, Rev. Ezekiel Russell. 
Mary Williams, b. Mar. 8, 1808, m. Sept. 21, 1835, Rev. Robert Ogden 
Dwight. She d. Apr. 22, 1852. He d. in Madura, India, Jan. 8, 1844. 

Capt. Henry Percy Billings (Elisha, Fellows, Ebenezer, 
Samuel, Richard), b. Dec. 24, 1780, m. Jan. 7, 1826, Emily 
Hitchcock, sister of President Edward Hitchcock of Amherst 
College. She d. Aug. 22, 1854. He d. Jan. 2, 1856. 

Children. 
*Hexry Williams, b. Dec. 9, 1826, m. Mary Jane Bates. 
Charles Hovey, b. July 9, 1832, m. Matilda Andrews Young. 

Henry Williams Billings (Henry P., Elisha, Fellows, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Richard), b. Dec. 9, 1826, m. June 10, 1856, 
Mary Jane Bates. She was b. April 20, 1831. She d. Aug. 4, 
1883. He d. June 15, 1916. 

Children. 
Charles Williams, b. Oct. 11, 1857, d. Sept. 19, 1859. 
Harry Hitchcock, b. May 7, 1859. 

Mary .\xdrus, b. Feb. 15, 1861, m. Sept. 26, 1910, George C. Holcomb. 
Amy Louise, b. Nov. 19, 1864, d. Aug. 21, 1865. 
Edward Coke, b. Aug. 6, 1868. 



264 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

BOND. John Bond (John, Nathaniel, WilHams, 
Thomas, Jonas), b. in Watertown, March 16, 1724, m. Nov. 
21, 1751, Silence King of Worcester. She was b. in 1729, d. Dec. 
25, 1812. Hed. June 30, 1808. 

Children. 
Ruth, b. June 7, 1752, m. Nathan Barrett. 
Adonijah, b. Nov. 14, 1753,- m. Rachel Childs. 
*Benjamin, b. Apr. 5, 1755, m. Miriam Mantor. 
*JosiAH, b. May 10, 1756, m. Margaret Stiles. 
Sarah, b. Nov. 11, 1757, m. Aug. 6, 1788, Amos Wilcox. 
Silence, b. Nov. 11, 1757, d. unm. Apr., 1842. 
*JoHN, b. June 16, 1761, m. Charlotte Brown. 
Jonah, b. July 17, 1763, m. Elizabeth Howe. 
Ezra, b. June 16, 1765, m. Mercy Whitney. 
Consider, b. Oct. 16, 1767, m. Jane Robey. 
Submit, b. Aug. 9, 1769, m. Joseph Packard. He d. and she m. (2) Sylvester 

Davis. 
Molly, b. Oct., 1771, m. Joseph Eaton. 
Seth, b. Mar., 1774, m. Lydia Harrington. 

Benjamin Bond (John, John, Nathaniel, William, Thomas, 
Jonas), b. April 5, 1755, in Barre, Mass., m. Dec. 15, 1782, 
Miriam Mantor. She was b. Sept. 25, 1755, and d. March 10, 
1846. He d. March 18, 1848, aged 92. 

Children. 
James, b. Apr. 9, 1786, m. Lindamine Avery. 

Betsey, b. July 12, 1789, m. Jan. 10, 18 11," Jonathan Snow of Goshen. 
*Lucius, b. Apr. 6, 1793, m. Sally Allis Lee. 
Patty, b. Aug. 5, 1795, m. Oct. 20, 1816, Samuel Wing. 
Benjamin, b. Aug. 7, 1797, m. Bethiah Avery. 

Lucius Bond (Benjamin, John, John, Nathaniel, William, 
Thomas, Jonas), b. April 6, 1793, m. June 29, 1820, Sallv Allis 
Lee. She was b. Jan. 9, 1799, and d. Dec. 15, 1882. He d. 
Sept. 9, 1863. 

Children . 
Julia A., b. Feb. 27, 1823, m. Nov. 25, 1847, Thomas Sherwin. 
*Austin, b. Jan. 9, 1825, m. Jane A. Arnold of North Adams. 
Bertha, b. F'eb. 25, 1826, d. Apr. 24, 1826. 
*RussELL, b. Mar. 28, 1827, m. Ophelia Sanderson. 
Mary Ette, b. Apr. 11, 1830, m. June 6, 1850, Wm. M. Skiff. 
Alfred, b. Feb. 3, 1832, d. Mar. 6, 1879, in Cal. 

Adeline, b. Mar. 8, 1835, m. Nov. 19, 1883, Capt. Lucius H. Stone of Green- 
field. 
Lucius Vinal, b. Sept. 23, 1837, m. Jennie Porter. 
Newton R., b. Dec. 12, 1841, m. Julia A. Gould. 

Austin Bond (Lucius, Benjamin, John, John, Nathaniel, 
William, Jonas), b. Jan. 9, 1825, m. Sept. 25, 1849, Jane A. 
Arnold of North Adams. She was b. Sept. 9, 1824, d. March 24, 
1895. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 265 

Children. 
Edward A., b. Dec. 23, 1850, m. Annie Eliza Robinson. 
John A., b. Mar. 2, 1852, m. Anna B. Kimball. 
Jennie M., b. Aug. 14, 1855, m. June 19, 1879, F. W. Sikes. 
Sarah Ellen, b. Oct. 8, 1858, m. May 20, 1885, Walter A. DeMerritt. 
Alfred Lucius, b. Oct. 25, 1861. 
Charles E., b. Sept. 30, 1865. 
James Crawford, b. Sept. 30, 1865. 

Russell Bond (Lucius, Benjamin, John, John, Nathaniel, 
WilUam, Jonas), b. March 28, 1827, m. Feb. 6, 1856, Ophelia 
Sanderson. He d. Oct. 30, 1910. 

Children. 
*DwiGHT S., b. Julv 11, 1858, m. Nora Denton. 
Mary E., b. Dec. 24, 1860, ni. Dec. 24, 1878, Wni. Peck. 
Ophelia, b. Aug. 25, 1864, m. Nov. 4, 1882, Alexander Sinclair. 
Lena B., b. Mar. 17, 1867, ni. Nov. 5, 1889, Herman S. King. 

DwiGHT Sanderson Bond (Russell, Lucius, Benjamin, 
John, John, Nathaniel, William, Jonas), b. July 11, 1858, m. 
Jan. 18, 1882, Nora Denton. 

Children. 
Emma Ophelia, b. Dec. 5, 1882, d. Nov. 2, 1891. 
Mabel L., b. Sept. 23, 1885, m. Sept. 22, 1906, Fred Brown. 
Maud, b. June 16, 1889, m. Oct. 5, 1910, Henry Nve. 
Lincoln D., b. Sept. 21, 1891, m. July 3, 1912, Edwina Moore. 
Lyman G., b. Sept. 21, 1891. 

JosiAH Bond (John, John, Nathaniel, William, Thomas, 
Jonas), b. May 10, 1756, m. 1789, Margaret Stiles. She was 
b. in 1758 and d. Feb., 1827. He d. July 20, 1795. 

Children. 
Theodosia, b. Apr. 8, 1790, m. Aug. 6, 1811, Luther Boyden. 
Minerva, b. Apr. 7, 1792, m. Apr., 1813, Ira Amsden. She d. Mar. 3, 1872. 
Harriet, b. Dec. 15, 1794, m. in 1816, Isaac Baker. He was b. Sept. 17, 
1792. 

John Bond (John, John, Nathaniel, William, Thomas. 
Jonas), b. June 16, 1761, m. April 19, 1795, Charlotte Brown. 
She d. 1849. He was in the Revolutionary War. He d. 1848. 
He adopted, as his son, Bradley Packard of Conway. 



BOYDEN. Josiah Boyden (Jonathan, Thomas), b. in 
Groton, Sept. 21, 1701, m. there, Jan. 7, 1729, Eunice Parker. 
Shed. Jan. 1, 1745. He m. (2) Jane Reed. He d. Oct. 17, 1772. 



266 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Eunice, b. May 22, 1733, m. June 25, 1752, Ebenezer Woods. 
*JosiAH, b. May 22, 1734, m. Sarah Butting. 

*JoHN, b. Jan. 12, 1735, m. Sarah Frye and Mrs. Esther Farnsworth. 
Mary, b. Sept. 2, 1740. 
Jonathan, b. Sept. 6, 1741. 
Samuel, b. May 25, 1751. 

Sarah, b. Nov. 14, 1752, m. in 1778, Wm. Dalrymple. 
Jane, b. July 24, 1754, m. in 1786, Joseph Keyes. 

JosiAH BoYDEN (Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. May 22, 
1734, m. May 10, 1789, Sarah Butting. She d. Jan. 19, 1822. 
Hed. Oct. 20, 1821. 

Children. 
Joseph, b. Feb. 14, 1760, m. Priscilia Luce. 
*JosiAH, b. Nov. 19, 1761, m. Anna Gates. 
David, b. 1764, d. unm. Apr. 7, 1791. 
Nehemiah, b. 1765, d. unm. Apr. 27, 1791. 

Mary, b. Aug., 1767, m. Medad Crittenden. She d. Mar. 13, 1869, aged 
101 yrs. 

Josiah Boyden (Josiah, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. 
Nov. 19, 1761, m., 1791, Anna Gates. She d. April 19, 1840. 
He d. April 4, 1845. 

Children. 
*David, b. Aug. 30, 1792, m. Freelove Parker. 
Sophia, b. July 16, 1794, m. Oct. 14, 1819, Capt. Pliny Merritt. 
Nancy, b. June 7, 1796, m. Oct. 1825, Chas. Leonard. 
*Josi.\h, b. June 9, 1798, m. Emily Stearns. 

S\T.viA, b. Oct. 30, 1800, m. Oct. iO, 1823, Capt. Charles Parsons. 
Willard, b. Feb. 5, 1803, d. unm. 
Luther, b. Aug. 5, 1805, d. Apr. 18, 1868. 
Louisa, b. Aug. 5, 1805, m. Dec. 24, 1827, Columbus Nelson. She d. July 

8, 1852. 
Israel, b. Nov. 5, 1807, d. unm. 1836. 
Philena, b. Dec. 5, 1809, m. Dec. 9, 1830, Joel Stearns. 
Electa, b. Mar. 26, 1812, m. June 4, 1838, Consider Arms. 
Elizabeth, b. Dec. 8, 1814, d. unm. Mar. 6, 1838. 
Marianne, b. Nov. 26, 1816, d. unm. Aug. 13, 1830. 

David Boyden (Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, Jonathan, 
Thomas), b. Aug. 30, 1792, m. May 31, 1826, Freelove Parker. 
He was drowned Sept. 17, 1831. 

Children. 
Mariette Marie, b. Apr. 17, 1828, m. Nov. 25, 1852, Clark M. Rowland. 

She d. Mar. 23, 1871. 
George Washington, b. 1830, m. Minerva D. Graves and Louisa C. Wright. 
David Wtllard, b. Aug. 11, 1831, m. Rachel Slater. 

Josiah Boyden (Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, Jonathan, 
Thomas), b. June 9, 1798, m. Dec. 19, 1833, Emily Stearns. She 
was b. Feb. 5, 1804, and d. Dec. 25, 1879. He d. June 9, 1872. 



P'AMILY GENEALOGIES. 267 

Children. 
*Francis, b. Dec. 30, 1834, m. A-Iartha L. Jones. 
*IsRAEL Gates, b. Feb. 3, 1837, m. Jennie Totnian. 
Nancy Maria, b. July 8, 1839, m. Oct. 2-1, 1860, George B. Wing. 
E.MILY Stearns, b. July 10, 1841, m. May 26, 1863, Rufus J. Patterson. 

Francis Bovdex (Josiah, Jcjsiah, Josiah, Josiah, Jona- 
than, Thomas), b. Dec. 30, 1834, m. June 1, 1864, Martha 
Louise Jones. She was b. April 25, 1846. He d. Jan. 29, 1875. 

Children. 
*Charles Luther, b. Sept. 27, 1865, m. Mary Ellen Pfersick. 
Francis Willard, b. July 6, 1867, m. Anna Boyden Newhall. 
*JosiAH DvviGHT, b. Feb. 23, 1870, m. Jane Amelia Rice. 
Edward J., b. Dec. 17, 1871, d. Jan. 27, 1875. 
Frederick C, b. May 26, 1873, d. June 8, 1873. 
Frank Edward, b. July 6, 1874. 

CH.A.RLES Luther Boyden (Francis, Josiah, Josiah, 
Josiah, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Sept. 27, 1865, m. in 
Ashfield, Sept. 27, 1892, Mary Ellen Pfersick. 

Children. 
Charles Sumner, b. Jan. 15, 1895. 
Everett Lawrence, b. Dec. 6, 1896. 
Howard Merton, b. Feb. 2, 1898, d. Jan. 23, 1917. 
Camillus Rogers, b. Jan. 17, 1900. 
Gr.\ce Marie, b. Sept. 19, 1902. 
Gladys Helen, b. Oct. 28, 1907. 

Josiah Dwight Boyden (Francis, Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, 
Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Feb. 23, 1870, m. Nov. 22, 1893, 
Jane Amelia Rice. 

Children. 
Josiah Raymond, b. Oct. 2, 1894, m. Nov. 29, 1916, Edna Graves. 
Leroy, b. June 5, 1896, d. June 8, 1896. 
Ruth, b. Dec. 11, 1897. 
Charles Francis, b. July 14, 1900. 
Clarence Wilbur, b. July 5, 1903. 
Luna, b. June 29, 1908. 
Emma .May, b. Mav 24, 1915. 



Israel Gates Boyden (Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, Jos 
than, Thomas), b. Feb. 3, 1837, m. June 8, 1871, Jei 
lan. He d. Jan. 24, 1875. 



Josiah, 
Jonathan, Thomas), b. Feb. 3, 1837, m. June 8, 1871, Jennie 
Totman. He d. Jan. 24, 18 

Children. 
Hattie Sophia, b. June 23, 1873, ni. George Archer. 
Israel G.\tes, b. Aug. 8, 1875, m. ALiy 1, 1909, Minnie R. .Mason. 

John Boyden (Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Jan. 12, 
1735, m. Sarah Frye. She d. July 29, 1785. He m. (2) Aug. 
16, 1786, Mrs. Esther (Gilmore) Farnsworth. She d. Aug. 10, 
1803. Hed. Oct. 10, 1819. 



268 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
*JoHN, b. Jan. 29, 1764, m. Eunice Hayden and Mary Jones. 
*James, b. in 1766, m. Susanna Norton and Lydia Burnham. 
*Frederick, b. in 1768, m. Rachel Wright and Mrs. Susan Hawkes. 
Simeon, b. in 1770, m. Rhoda Watriss and Lucy Eaton. 

Sally, b. Oct. 6, 1772, m. • Nims. 

Hannah, b. Dec. 13, 1773, m. Oct. 25, 1795, Thomas Arms. 

Lucy, b. Oct. 23, 1774, m. Oct. 15, 1801, James Nims. 

*Daniel, b. in 1776, m. Charlotte Goodnough, Mrs. Anna Anderson, and Airs. 

Susan (Hawkes) Boyden. 
Samuel, b. Mar., 1779, d. Sept. 22, 1782. 
Ambrose, b. Sept., 1789, m. Mahala Hill. 
David, b. Feb. 14, 1791, m. Lucy Ann Scott. 

Israel, b. July 15, 1793, m. Lorinda Graham and Sophia Cooley. 
Samuel, b. June, 1798, m. Ann Crane. 

John Boyden, Jr. (John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas),, 
b. Jan. 29, 1764, m. Sept. 7, 1785, Eunice Hayden. She d. 
Nov. 29, 1833. Hem. (2) May 16, 1835, Mary Jones. He 
d. Oct. 2, 1857. She d. Aug. 7, 1876. He was in the Rev- 
olutionary War at Saratoga and at West Point when the treason 
of Arnold was discovered. 

Children. 
William, b. Nov. 30, 1786, m. Martha Nash. 
Luther, b. Sept. 30, 1788, m. Theodosia Bond. 
Augustus, b. Aug. 22, 1790. 

Electa, b. July 8, 1792, m. Abner Arms and Theodore Hale. 
Dexter, b. Sept. 16, 1794, d. Oct., 1795. 

Nathaniel, b. Aug. 16, 1796, m. Ruth Martin and Mrs. Jane C. Mitchell. 
Moses Hayden, b. Aug. 20, 1798. 
Dennis Frye, b. Sept. 19, 1800. 
Eliza, b. May 22, 1802, d. Jan. 3, 1811. 
*Lester, b. July 31, 1803, m. Cynthia Leonard. 

Lester Boyden (John, John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), 
b. July 31, 1803, m. Oct., 1825, Cynthia Leonard. She d. Aug. 
28, 1899. He d. May 22, 1882. 

Children. 
Augustus Leonard, b. Dec. 24, 1828. 
Spencer, b. Aug. 25, 1832, m. Belinda Sherman. 
George Dwight, b. Aug. 11, 1838, d. unm. Feb. 27, 1895. 
Katherine Eliza, b. Apr. 5, 1840, m. Dec. 30, 1858, B. Russell Hamilton. 
John Trumble, b. Sept. 5, 1846, m. Flora Warner. 
Mary Jones, b. Dec. 25, 1848, m. July 3, 1876, Jeremiah J. Friend. 
Frederick, b. May 24, 1851, m. Edith Brewster. He d. Sept. 24, 1896. 

James Boyden (John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. in 
1766, m. Feb. 29, 1789, Susanna Norton. He m. (2) Lydia 
Burnham. She d. March 11, 1851. He d. Feb. 4, 1838. 

Children. 
Dorothy, b. Oct. 20, 1793, m. Socrates Nelson, m. (2) Daniel Brown of 

Whately. 
*Cephas, b. Dec. 5, 1794, m. Electa Moore. 

*B.arnard, b. Jan. 19, 1796, m. Clarissa Lee and Leanthy W. Chapman. 
Julia Ann, b. June 22, 1799, m. Jan. 28, 1822, Elbridge E. Stebbins. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 269 

Cephas Boyden (James, John, Josiah, Jonathan, 
Thomas), b. Dec. 5, 1794, m. Electa Moore. He d. Feb. 14, 
1864. She d. June 20, 1855. 

Children. 
♦William, b. Feb. 9, 1818, ni. Hannah M. Bardwell. 
John Moore, b. Aug. 11, 1819, m. Almira Bardwell. 
CoRXELi.\, b. Mar. 27, 1821, m. Sept. 16, 1840, Dennis Lee. She d. Sept. 4, 

1849. 
Lydi.\ Burnham, b. Oct. 22, 1823, m. May, 1840, Franklin Robbe. She d. 

Aug. 26, 1897. 
Augustus, b. Mar. 22, 1825, m. Mary Ann Lyon. 

Alinda, b. Jan. 9, 1830, m. Aug. 18, 1848, Levi Cross. She d. Feb. 2, 1897. 
Nancy, b. Aug. 12, 1834, m. (1) Mar. 26, 1857, Henry Murphy, ni. (2j Aug. 

12, 1880, Mark Emery Stanton. 

William Boyden (Cephas, James, John, Josiah, Jona- 
than, Thomas), b. Feb. 9, 1818, m. Hannah Maria Bardwell. 
He d. Oct. 11, 1874. She d. Feb. 20, 1876. 

Children. 
*Cyrus J.\mes, b. Oct. 7, 1850, m. Flora Abbott. 

Charles Henry, b. Feb. 10, 1852, m. Feb. 19, 1875, Annie M. Kearney. 
Varnum Taylor, b. Aug. 10, 1853, ni. Pxlith A. Lawrence. 
*George William, b. June 26, 1855, m. Carrie R. Bates. 

Cyrus James Boyden (William, Cephas, James, John, 
Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Oct. 7, 1850, m. Flora Abbott. 
She d. July 3, 1887. 

Children. 
Henry Winthrop, b. Feb. 14, 1882. 
Merrill Otis, b. May 14, 1884, d. June 10, 1907. 

George William Boyden (William, Cephas, James, 
John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. June 26, 1855, m. Oct. 31, 
1877, Carrie R. Bates. He d. March 2, 1908. 

Children. 
Lucy Gertrude, b. May 6, 1882, m. William Callahan. 
George Alpheus, b. Mar. 22, 1886. 
Annie Maria, b. May 12, 1890. 

Barnard Boyden (James, John, Josiah, Jonathan, 
Thomas), b. Jan. 19, 1796, m. (1) Jan. 1, 1824, (^larissaLee. She 
d. Feb. 4, 1833. He m. (2) Dec. 8, 1833, Leanthy W. Chapman. 
She d. April 11, 1892. He d. Feb. 11, 1866. 

Children. 
*Charles Barnard, b. Nov. 20, 1824, m. Sept. 9, 1852, Donna M. Oakes. 
James Dwight, b. Apr. 16, 1828, d. Aug. 6, 1839. 
Daughter, b. Mar. 1, 1832, d. Mar. 21, 1832. 
*James Dwight, b. June 14, 1842, m. June 15, 1869, Mary E. C. Rice. 



270 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Charles Barnard Boyden (Barnard, James, John, 
Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Nov. 20, 1824. He m. Sept. 9, 
1852, Donna M. Oakes. She d. June 11, 1889. He d. Dec. 19, 
1899. 

Childreii. 
Clara L., b. Oct. 21, 1853. 
Albert Charles, b. July 5, 1865, m. July 31, 1895, Mary Louise Patterson. 

James Dwight Boyden (Barnard, James, John, Josiah, 
Jonathan, Thomas), b. June 14, 1842, m. June 15, 1869, Mary 
E. C. Rice. He d. Jan. 4, 1899. 

Childre>i. 
Lena Leantha, b. Jan. 25, 1873. 

Frederick Boyden (John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), 
b. in lt68, m. Aug. 26, 1793, Rachel Wright. She d. July 17, 
1834. He m. (2) Mrs. Susan Hawkes. He d. April 12, 1842. 
She d. Feb. 2, 1879. 

Children. 
Theodosl\, b. Feb. 28, 1794, m. Joshua Lee Harwood of Whately, m. (2) Dr. 

G. W. Hamilton of Conway. 
Ora Sprague, b. Oct. 12, 1797, ni. Dec. 8, 1825, Capt. Loring Thayer. 
Martha Sprague, b. Jan. 23, 1801, m. Apr., 1819, Samuel Stebbins. 
Elihu Wright, b. Jan. 14, 1804, m. Irene Osgood. 
George Washington, b. Nov. 21, 1806. 

Daniel Boyden (John, Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. 
1776, m. May 6, 1800, Charlotte Goodnough. She d. Feb. 2, 
1837. He m. (2) Mrs. Anna Anderson. She d. Oct. 3, 1841. 
He m. (3) Mrs. Susan (Hawkes) Boyden. He d. May 27, 1858. 

Children . 

Charles, b. Oct. 5, 1801. 

Maria, b. July 4, 1803, m. June 18, 1829, John Horton, Jr., of Newburvport. 

Minerva, b. July 26, 1804, m. June 26, 1825, Esek Saunders. 

Mary Nims, b. Feb. 14, 1806, m. Orrin Brown. 

Emily, b. Dec. 20, 1807, m. Apr. 17, 1828, Cephas Clapp. 

Frederick, b. Nov. 20, 1809, m. Charlotte Stearns and Julia K. Merrill and 
Delia H. Taylor. 

*Dwight, b. Sept. 15, 1811, m. Clarissa Hamilton, m. (2) Fannie Maria Ma- 
comber, m. (3) Minerva Wait. 

*Daniel Whitney, b. Oct. 14, 1813, m. Miranda Bartlett and Mrs. Betsey 
(Day) Whitcomb. 

Samuel, b. Mar. 6, 1817. 

Dwight Boyden (Daniel, John, Josiah, Jonathan, 
Thomas), b. Sept. 15, 1811, m. Jan. 2, 1842, Clarissa S. Hamilton. 
She d. March 4, 1845. He m. (2) Fannie Maria Macomber. 
She d. Oct. 29, 1850. He m. (3) March 2, 1851, Minerva Wait. 
He d. Oct. 2, 1896. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 271 

Children. 
*Herbert Dwight, b. Feb. 3, 1844, m. Josephine D. Hall. 
Arthur Henry, b. July 11, 1847, d. CVt. 11, 1850. 
Clar.\ M.\ri.\, b. Feb. 5, 1850, ni. .Mar. 17, 1875, Chas. F. Allis. 
Slsan Emkline, b. Dec. 22, 1852. 
Arthur Henry, b. Aug. 31, 1856, d. Aug. 1, 1859. 

Herbert Dwigiit Boyden (Dwight, Daniel, John, 
Josiah, Jonathan, Thomas), b. Feb. 3, 1844, m. Josephine D. 
Hall. Shed. July 13, 1893. Hem. (2) Mattie Di.xon. He d. 
Jan. 19, 1915. 

Daniel Whitney Boyden (Daniel, John, Josiah, 

Jonathan, Thomas), b. Oct. 14, 1813, m. Sept. 17, 1840, Miranda 

Bartlett. She d. June 3, 1864. He m. (2) June 4, 1865, Mrs. 

Betsey (Day) Whitcomb, of Bernardston. She d. Nov. 25, 1894. 

Hed. Oct. 4, 1875. 

Cliildren. 

James, b. July 14, 1841, d. Sept. 15, 1843. 

Samuel, b. Jan. 9, 1843, d. Jan. 18, 1843. 

Harriet M., b. Jan. 16, 1844, m. Jan. 16, 1865, Silas H. Field. She d. Dec. 
21, 1871. 

Mary J., b. Feb. 8, 1847, m. May 4, 1869, Chauncey M. Bryant, South Deer- 
field. 

Samuel E., b. Feb. 3, 1849, m. May 14, 1872, Elizabeth Bartlett of South 
Deer field. 



BRADFORD. William Bradford, governor of Massachu- 
setts Colony, was the ancestor of the Bradford family in this 
town. He was born in England, came over in the "Mayflower," 
and was governor for many years. 

SiiUBAL Bradford (Shubal, Samuel, Samuel, John, Wil- 
liam, Gov. William) b. Oct., 1762, m. Anna Hadlock. She d. June 
29, 1851. Hed. Mar. 26, 1837. 

Children. 
*JoHN, b. Aug. 13, 1791, m. Susanna Farley. 
Parmeli.a, b. Aug. 21, 1793, m. May 26, 1824, Silas Bassett. 
Abigail, b. Mar. 8, 1796, m. Stoddard Nims. 
Phoebe, b. Feb. 18, 1798, m. Joel Farley. 
Parthena, b. Dec. 29, 1800, m. Hosea Blake. 
Anna, b. Dec. 22, 1803, d. young. 

Minerva, b. Aug. 28, 1807, m. Oct. 13, 1826, Leonard Dwight. 
*Shub.\l, b. July 13, 1809, m. Mary Ford. 

John Bradford (Shubal, Shubal, Samuel, Samuel, John, 
William, William), b. Aug. 13, 1791, m. Susanna Farley. Shed. 
Jan. 28, 1870. He d. Jan. 14, 1869. 



272 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Anna C, b. Jan. 17, 1815. 

George Washington, b. Feb. 22, 1817, m. Roxanna Howes. 
Lydia F., b. Mar. 8, 1818, m. Oct. 27, 1852, Lemuel B. Churchill. 
Mary F., b. May 11, 1825, d. July 17, 1843. 

John Barron, b. Jan. 5, 1831, m. May 15, 1857, Elmie J. Whitney. He d. 
Apr. 29, 1887. 

Shubal Bradford (Shubal, Shubal, Samuel, Samuel, John, 
William, William), b. July 13, 1809, m. Dec. 6, 1832, Mary 
Ford. She d. Feb. 27, 1889. He d. Jan. 6, 1897. 

Children. 
Melvin Monroe, b. Mar. 4, 1834, m. Maggie J. Nelson and Mrs. Eliza 

Miranda Jones. 
Josephine Maria, b. Dec. 15, 1835, d. Aug. 23, 1853. 
*Elias F., b. Nov. 21, 1837, ni. Lottie M. Howe and Fannie E. Flagg. 
John Wrisley, b. Oct. 14, 1842, m. Mary E. Wheeler. 
Susan Farley, b. Oct. 14, 1842, m. Nov. 5, 1862, Willis xN. Howe. 
Caroline Elizabeth, b. Oct. 9, 1849, m. May 5, 1875, Clarence E. Brown. 

Elias F. Bradford (Shubal, Shubal, Shubal, Samuel, 
Samuel, John, William, William), b. Nov. 21, 1837, m. in Barre, 
Feb. 29, 1860, Lottie M. Howe. She d. March 12, 1861. He m. 
(2) May 13, 1862, Fannie E. Flagg. 

Children. 
Lottie Josephine, b. Dec. 7, 1867. 

Mary R., b. Oct. 8, 1869, m. June 25, 1907, Allen L. Towne. 
Samuel Frank, b. Apr. 25, 1875. 
Walter Leroy, b. May 1, 1878, m. Alice E. Rice. 



BROWN. Erastus Brown (William, William, Edward), 
b. 1791, m. Philinda Meekins. She d. Aug. 22, 1865. He d. 
April 21, 1864. 

Children. 
Philinda, b. Nov. 19, 1812. 

Sally, b. May 11, 1814, m. Guilford. 

Submit, b. Dec. 14, 1815. 

Martha, b. Aug. 16, 1817. 

Caroline, b. June 21, 1819, m. Nov. 27, 1843, Samuel Felts. 

*Erastus, b. June 5, 1821, m. Levey Easton and Wealthea E. Naramore. 

Climena, b. Apr. 1, 1823, m. Lemuel S. Boice. 

Champion, b. Apr. 5, 1825. 

Infant, b. Feb. 26, 1827. 

Sarepta, b. Apr. 13, 1828. 

Marah, b. Feb. 21, 1830, m. Oct. 20, 1847, Sumner O. Policy. 

Lucelia; b. Feb. 12, 1832, m. Nov. 29, 1848, Edwin C. Fairchild. 

Jerome, b. Mar. 2, 1834, m. Sept. 9, 1854, Sarah A. Hines. 

Erastus Brown (Erastus, William, William, Edward), 
b. June 5, 1821, m. Oct. 28, 1846, Levey Easton. She d. Sept. 11, 
1857. He m. (2) March 27, 1858, Wealthea E. Naramore. He d. 
in 1892. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 273 

Children. 
Clarence Eaton, b. July 20, 1847, m. Caroline Bradford and Katherine 

Shipman. 
J. Merrill, b. Mar. 11, 1853, m. Ella C. Jenkins. 

Isaiah Brown (Isaiah, Edward), b. Nov. 23, 1782, m. 
Jan. 6, 1803, Demmis Billings. She d. in 1842. 

Children. 
*IsAL\H Morris, b. May 28, 1810, m. Mary Dinsmore. 
Maria, m. Alvin Dinsmore. 

Lydia Billings, b. Aug. 17, 1813, m. George W. P'airfield. She d. Oct. 11, 
1875. 

Isaiah Morris Brown (Isaiah, Isaiah, Edward), b. May 
28, 1810, m. Mary Dinsmore. She d. June 4, 1881. He m. 
(2) Oct. 12, 1887, Mrs. Anna Shuttleworth. He d. in 1889. 

Children. 
*Addison, b. Apr. 15, 1834, m. Esther Stebbins. 
Mary Ann, b. Jan. 25, 1840, m. C. C. Flagg. 
*Emory, b. Jan. 13, 1844, m. Lottie Sanderson Field; m. (2) Mrs. Hattie 

(Wright) King. 
Myron, b. Aug. 20, 1847, m. May 11, 1869, Mary J. Malcolm. 

Addison Brown (Isaiah M., Isaiah, Isaiah, Edward), b. 
April 15, 1834, m. Esther Stebbins. He d. Aug. 4, 1915. 

Children. 
Charles A., b. Mav, 1857, d. Dec. 10, 1863. 
George E., b. Jan. 6, 1860. . 
Lottie A., b. Mar., 1861, d. Sept. 13, 1875. 
Mary D., b. Mar. 30, 1864, d. Sept. 22, 1875. 
Nellie Maria, b. Sept. 27, 1871, m. George Griggs. 
Emma Sophia, h. June 15, 1875, d. Sept. 26, 1875. 
Ernest Winfred, b. Oct. 13, 1877, m. Oct. 7, 1914, Esther Ney. 
Fr.\nk H.\ll, b. Sept. 22, 1880, m. Lura Crafts. 

Emory Brown (Isaiah M., Isaiah, Isaiah, Edward), b. 
Jan. 13, 1844, m. March 12, 1873, Lottie Sanderson Field. 
She d. May 16, 1893. He m. (2) Mrs. Hattie (Wright) King. 

Children. 
Ada Sophia, b. Sept. 30, 1878, d. Aug. 18, 1895. 



BURKE. Edmund Burke, m. Judith Arms, May 20, 
1837. He d. in 1864. She d. April 19, 1903. 

Children. 
Charles E. 
John A. 
Edmund B. 



274 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

BURNETT. Lionel Burnett (Daniel, Archibald), b. 
in Florida, Mass., in 1811, m. Dec, 1834, Minerva Rice. She 
d. Oct. 29, 1851. Hem. (2) June 2, 1853, Lucy H. Andrews; 
He m. (3) Mary Lawrence. He d. Feb. 17, 1867. 

Children. 
Maria, m. Alvin Lawrence. 
Alfred, b. Sept. 8, 1839, m. Ellen Z. Willis. 
*Daniel, b. June 1841, m. Alice Dickinson. 
LoNZO, b. 1844. 
Emeline, b. 1846, m. Payson Eldredge, m. (2) Albert Packard. 

William, m. Smith. 

Theodore, b. July 4, 1850. 
Louisa, d. Sept., 1852. 

Willis, . 

Twins, b. Sept. 22, 1857. 

Daniel Burnett (Lionel, Daniel, Archibald), b. June, 
1841, m. Alice Dickinson. He d. Nov. 22, 1870. 

Children. 
Fred, m. Anna Fisher. 



CAMPBELL. William Clark Campbell (Thomas), b. 
Sept. 16, 1810, in New Boston, N. H., m. Sept. 15, 1840, Emma 
L. Ames. He d. June, 1886. 

Children. 
Almira French, m. Jan. 19, 1870, Hollis D. Graves of Sunderland. 
Elizabeth Ames, d. Sept. 12, 1846. 

Emily Elizabeth, m. Oct. 19, 1870, J. Forbes Bannister. 
Emma Electa, m. Sept., 1873, Anson D. Guilford. 
Mary Ann, res. in Montreal. 
Jessie, d. Sept. 13, 1860. 
William Frederick. 



CATLIN. Timothy Catlin (Nathan, John, Joseph, John, 
John), b. in Deerfield, Nov. 5, 1753, m. March 29, 1779, Silence 
Bartlett. 

Children. 
Nathan, b. Jan. 22, 1780, m. Sarah Russell. 

Gratia Thankful, m. Aug. 12, 1804, Silas Field. She d. Jan. 6, 1867. 
Timothy, b. Mar. 18, 1790, m. Electa . 



CHILDS. This name in common with many others is 
derived from Hildr of the Norse Mythology. Its real sig- 
nificance and its descent from mythical to historical times can 
be traced in that beautiful epic "The Nibelungenlied," and 
the "Iliad of the North." Richard Childs, the ancestor of 
the Conway branch lived and died in Barnstable. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 275 

David Childs (Ebenezer, Samuel, Richard, Richard), 
b. in Shutesburv, Nov. 4, 1760, m. March, 1784, Clarisa 
Dickinson of ( Goshen. She d. April 27, 1804. He d. March 15, 
1828. 

Children . 
PoLiXANA, b. Jan. 2, 1785, m. June, 1806, Stephen Sanderson of Whately. 
Calista, b. Feb. 18, 1787, m. Oct. 7, 1812, Dr. Geo. Rogers of Conway. 
*Otis, b. Apr. 4, 1790, m. Sally Field, m. (2) Electa Clary, ni. (3) Lois Parsons 

and m. (4) Mrs. Anna Dickinson. 
Silas Dickinson, b. May 29, 1794, m. Roxana Parker. 
JusTi-s, b. Oct. 6, 1799, d. June 19, 1828. 
*Franklin, b. June 28, 1802, m. Lucinda Field and Mrs. Sarah (Xewhall) 

Clary. 

Capt. Otis Guilds (David, P2benezer, Samuel, Richard, 
Richard), b. April 4, 1790, m. Jan. 13, 1813, Sally Field. She 
d. Dec. 29, 1819. He m. (2) Dec. 14, 1820, Electa Clary. She 
d. July 28, 1826, and he m. (3) Feb. 22, 1827, Lois Parsons. 
She d. Feb. 22, 1844, and he m. (4) Aug. 28, 1844, Mrs. Anna 
Dickinson. He d. May 20, 1860. She d. March 22, 1864. 

Childreti. 
Edward, b. Dec. 31, 1813, m. Sarah Ann Adams and Emily Porter. 
William, b. May 28, 1816, m. Lydia Frary. 
Henry, b. Jan. 28, 1818, m. Mary A. Graves, Esther L. Kingsley and Mary 

D. Phillips. 
Sally Fikld, b. Dec. 21, 1819, m. Oct. 5, 1842, Samuel W. Barber. 
Charles, b. Jan. 20, 1822, m. Elizabeth W. Webster. 
Silas Dickinson, b. Julv 19, 1826, m. Harriet A. Warren. 
Electa Clary, b. Jan. 24, 1828, m. Sept. 20, 1848, F. Fisher Ames. 
David, b. Nov. 11, 1830, m. M. EHzabeth Ladd. 
Lois Parsons, b. Sept. 28, 1838, m. Andrew Wood. 

Franklin Childs (David, Ebenezer, Samuel, Richard, 
Richard), b. June 28, 1802, m. July 24, 1828, Lucinda Field. 
Shed. March 4, 1868. He m. (2) Julv 12, 1868, Mrs. Sarah 
(Newhallj Clary. He d. March 13, 1880. She d. Feb. 26, 1894. 

Children. 
Justus, b. Sept. 11, 1831, m. Sept. 2, 1856, Susan J. Brown. He d. July 13, 
1866. 

Reuben Childs (Asa, Samuel, Richard, Richard), b. in 
Deerfield, Feb. 16, 1755, m. Oct. 20, 1782, Thankful Scott. 
She d. May 25, 1835. He d. here Oct. 15, 1843. 

Children. 
Joshua, b. Nov. 29, 1784, m. Jan. 30, 1810, Susan King. 
Sophia, b. May, 1787, d. unm. Jan. 13, 1864. 
Seth, m. Emily Kneeland. 

♦Horace B., b. Mav 17, 1797, m. Mary C. Jennev. 
Dennis, b. Jan. 31, 1800, m. Apr. 21, 1836, Clarissa Keyes. 
Sylvester, b. Nov. 6, 1803, m. Mary Keyes. 
Thankful, b. July 13, 1807, m. Mar. 26, 1829, Oliver Smith. 



276 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Horace B. Childs (Reuben, Asa, Samuel, Richard, 
Richard), b. May 17, 1797, m. Mary C. Jenney. Shed. Dec. 19, 
1866. Hed. March 19, 1876. 

Children. 
Elizabeth, b. July 22, 1835, m. June 1, 1871, Hezekiah D. Perry. She'd. 
Jan. 18, 1910. He d. Sept. 25, 1892. 

Calvin K. Childs (Dennis, Reuben, Asa, Samuel, 
Richard, Richard), b. Aug., 1847, m. Elizabeth Achres. She 
d. in 1889. He d. Aug. 6, 1903. 

Children. 

Martha, m. George Willis. 

Jennie. 

Dennis, b. Apr. 2, 1883. 

Raymond. 



CLAPP. William Taylor Clapp (Levi, Charles, Simeon, 
Roger, Preserved, Roger), b. Jan. 17, 1821, m. May 19, 1846, 
Ophelia E. Billings. They removed to California and both died 
there. 

Children. 
Frederick Arthur, b. Apr. 27, 1850. 
Jennie Huntington, b. Nov. 4, 1856. 
William Billings, b. Apr. 11, 1861. 

CLARK— CLARKE. Thomas Clarke of Plymouth was 
the first ancestor of the family in this town. Thomas was a 
deacon of the Plymouth Church and was buried on the summit 
of Burying Hill. 

Capt. Elisha Clark (Scotto, Scotto, Andrew, Thomas), 
b. in Harwich, May 14, 1734, m. Feb. 14, 1760, Hannah Hopkins. 
They settled here in 1774. He d. Sept. 9, 1811. She d. Oct. 21, 
1813. 

Children. 
*JuDAH, b. Nov. 22, 1760, m. Abigail Freeman. 

Mercy, b. Apr. 24, 1762, m. Nov. 7, 1786, Consider Morton of Whately. 
Hannah, b. Nov. 30, 1763, m. Nov. 10, 1785, Benjamin Hickcox. 
*Elisha, b. Aug. 29, 1765, m. Lucinda Keith. 

*ScoTTO, b. July 14, 1767, m. Rebecca Emerson and Joanna -Adams. 
Oliver, b. Julv 5, 1769, m. Deborah Lester. " / 

Tabitha, b. Nov. 1, 1771, m. Sept. 5, 1790, David FieldV 
Thomas, b. Nov. 16, 1774, ni. Ruth Morse. 
Thankful, b. Sept. 7, 1776, m. Feb. 27, 1808, Mordecai Adams. 

JuDAH Clark (Elisha, Scotto, Scotto, Andrew, Thomas), 
b. Nov. 22, 1760, m. Oct. 12, 1788, Abigal Freeman. She d. 
Oct. 10, 1833. He d. May 19, 1805. He was in the Revo- 
lutionarv War. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 277 



Children. 



Elkanah, b. Sept. 11, 1789, cl. in New Orleans, Julv, 1820. 

Hannah, b. Oct. 4, 1790, d. Oct. 31, 1790. 

Freeman, b. May H, 1795, m. Frances Lincoln, Nancy W. Stevens and Sarah 

Goodwin Hyde. 
Henry, b. Feb. 26, 1797, d. June 3, 1832. 
Edmitnd, b. Jan. 27, 1799, d. Dec. 30, 1861. 
VVlLLi.wi, b. May 9, 1801, d. Aug. 30, 1827. 
Abigail, b. Apr. 28, 1803, d. Sept. 2, 1803. 
VViNSLOW, b. Aug. 29, 1804, m. Betsey L. Bardwell. 

Elisha Clark (Elisha, Scotto, Scotto, Andrew, Thomas), 
b. Aug. 29, 1765, m. Feb. 22, 1798, Luanda Keith. She d. 
July 4, 1858. He d. Apiril 15, 1847. 

Children. 
Juu.\, b. Dec. 28, 1798, ni. Dec. 12, 1827, Luther White. 
*LiNCOLN, b. Aug. 9, 1800, m. Julia Annah Smith. 
Fessenden, b. Sept. 23, 1802, d. Sept. 16, 1803. 
Elisha F., b. July 24, 1804, d. unm. 
Caroline, b. Sept. 16, 1806, d. Sept. 20, 1818. 
LuciNDA A., b. Sept. 14, 1808, m. Apr. 22, 1833, Ralph Ware. 
Abigail, b. Oct. 12, 1810, m. Apr. 8, 1836, Rev. Jared M. Stone. 
Ch.\rles L., b. Oct. 30, 1812. 

Hannah, b. June 18, 1815, m. June 17, 1839, Cephas Arms. 
Edward, b. Nov. 5, 1817, m. Agnes A. Bean. 

Hon. Lincoln Clark (Elisha, Elisha, Scotto, Scotto, 
Andrew, Thomas), b. Aug. 9, 1800, m. Sept. 24, 1836, Julia 
Annah Smith. He d. here Sept. 15, 1886. She d. May 20, 
1892. 

Children. 
Catherine Lincoln, b. Feb. 26, 1838, d. unm. Mar. 2, 1897. 
Julia Annah, b. Nov. 13, 1840, m. Sept. 9, 1864, Dr. Chas. H. Ray of Chicago. 

She was for several years ladv principal of V'assar College. She d. Aug. 

5, 1913. 
Lincoln Ellis, b. May 2, 1843, m. Getta Glennon. 
Edward Fessenden, b. May 9, 1845. 
Charles Conway, b. Dec. 21, 1846, d. Dec. 24, 1846. 
Robert Keith, b. Mar. 8, 1851. 

Scotto Clark (PZlisha, Scotto, Scotto, Andrew, Thomas), 
b. July 14, 1767, m. Nov. 7, 1804, Rebecca Emerson, daughter 
of Rev. John. She d. May 4, 1825. He m. (2) Joanna Adams, 
Hed. May 1, 1851. 

Children. 
Mary Moody, b. Sept. 26, 1805, m. May 26, 1826, Rev. John .Atlams Nash. 
Sabra Cobb, b. Sept. 1, 1807, m. Sept. 8, 1828, Prof. Ebenezer S. Snell of 

Amherst. 
Fidelia, b. Jan. 22, 1811. 
Rebecca Emerson, b. May 26, 1813. 
Louisa Strong, b. Apr. 11, 1818, m. Feb. 4, 1846, Jonathan D. Porter. 



278 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Ebenezer Clark (Ebenezer, William, John, John, 
William, Thomas), b. May 28, 1781, m. April 13, 1808, Sally 
Griffith. She d. July 18, 1837. He d. Oct. 28, 1832. 

Children. 
Almira, b. July 3, 1809, d. July 28, 1810. 
*Albert, b. Nov. 6, 1810, m. Elizabeth Adams. 

Almira Griffith, b. Jan. 15, 1813, m. Dec. 21, 1833, Prof. O. N. Stoddard. 
*RoDOLPHUS, b. Feb. 16, 1815, m. Clarissa Dickinson Rogers. 
Asa Bement, b. June 8, 1817, m. Miranda Crosby, Abbie H. Kimball and 

Margaret Hedges. 
Aurora, b. Feb. 21, 1820, m. Oct. 28, 1841, William Bartlett. 
Ebenezer Lincoln, b. Nov. 2, 1822, m. Emily H. Canfield and Sarah R. 

Walker. 

Albert Clark (Ebenezer, Ebenezer, William, John, 
John, Thomas), b. Nov. 6, 1810, m. April 7, 1847, Elizabeth 
Adams. She d. Jan. 13, 1873. He d. Dec. 25, 1868. 

Children . 
Charles Adams, b. May 22, 1848, m. Lucelia Hollett. 

Dr. Rodolphus Clark (Ebenezer, Ebenezer, William, 
John, John, Thomas), b. Feb. 16, 1815, m. Nov. 29, 1839, 
Clarissa Dickinson Rogers. She d. Oct. 18, 1867. He removed 
to Dubuque, Iowa, where he d. May 1, 1897. 

Children. 
Sarah Griffith, b. Sept. 25, 1841, d. June 21, 1865. 
Aura Bartlett, b. Jan. 27, 1844, m. Charles H. Arms of Chicago. 
Infant Son, b. Julv 15, 1846, d. Aug. 3, 1846. 
Clara Elizabeth, b. Jan. 29, 1850, d. Aug. 7, 1866. 
Mary Calista, b. Oct. 18, 1852, d. July 3, 1853. 

Ada Moulton, b. Dec. 18, 1856, m. Nov. 20, 1879, William P. Bingham, 
Dubuque, Iowa. 



CLARY. John Clary was an early inhabitant of Water- 
town and married there in 1643, Mary Cassel. His second 
wife was Sarah — ■ — . Their son John came to Hadley in 1678. 

Lieut. John Clary (Joseph, John, John), b. Jan. 24, 
1722, in Sunderland, m. Nov. 23, 1749, Rachel Eastman of 
Hadley. She d. April 9, 1782. He m. (2) Nov. 18, 1785, 
Mrs. Mary Frary of Hatfield. He d. July 20, 1798. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Sept. 24, 1750, m. Nov. 14, 1773, Daniel Cooley. 
Elijah, b. Aug. 25, 1752, m. Electa Dickinson. 
*JosEPH, b. Sept. 19, 1756, m. Polina Frary. 
LuciNDA, b. Oct. 12, 1760, m. July 7, 1785', Martin Root. 
Lucy, b. Sept. 20, 1764, m. Sept. 24, 1788, Bani Wing. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 279 

Joseph Clary (John, Joseph, John, John), b. Sept. 19, 
1756, m. April 10, 1786, PoUna Frary. She d. Sept. 9, 1820. 
Hed. May 16, 1827. 

Children. 
PoLiNA, b. Apr. 14, 1788, m. Dea. Christopher Arms. 
S\T.viA, b. Mar. 3, 1793, m. Joseph Avery. 
H.\RRY, b. Mar. 19, 1796. 

*JOHN, b. Mar. 30, 1802, m. Sally Maria Amsden and Mrs. Clara (Moulton) 
Hale. 

Deacon John Clary (Joseph, John, Joseph, John, John), 
b. March 30, 1802, m. Dec. 14, 1831, Sally Maria Amsden. 
She d. Sept. 3, 1836. He m. (2) P>b. 22, 1838, Mrs. Clara 
(Moulton) Hale. He d. June 19, 1879. She d. July 13, 1886. 

Children. 
Francis Amsden, b. Aug. 19, 1836, killed at Port Hudson June 14, 1863. 
Martha Hale, b. July 24, 1839, d. in Beaufort, S. C. 
Susan Miller, b. Mar. 5, 1841, d. in Pretoria, S. Africa. 
Harriet Arms, b. June 22, 1843, d. Aug. 15, 1844. 
*Samlel Harris, b. June 6, 1845, m. Mattie R. Peck. 

Deacon Samuel Harris Clary (John, Joseph, John, 
Joseph, John, John), b. June 6, 1845, m. June 10, 1875, Mattie R. 
Peck of Shelburne. 

Children. 
Hattie May, b. May 14, 1878. 
Fannie Maria, b. May 25, 1880. 
John Albert, b. Sept. 26, 1892. 

Oliver Clary (Elijah, John, Joseph, John, John), b. 

Jan. 10, 1784, m. Jane . 

Childreyt. 
Emily, b. Aug. 22, 1810, d. in Holvoke aged 88 years. 

Polly, b. Dec. 14, 1813, m. Hastings. 

Sophia, b. Jan. 30, 1816. 

Henry, b. in 1821, m. Nov. 2, 1849, Sarah S. Newhall. He d. in 1861. 



COFFIN. Robert A. Coffin (Matthe^v of Martha's 
Vineyard), b. in Williamsburg in 1801, m. Wealthy Arms, 
March 13, 1828. He d. Sept. 4, 1878. She d. June 1, 1886. 

Children. 
Emily F., b. 1839, d. June 16, 1851. 
Ada C, b. 1841, m. Rev. A. J. Chaplin Sept. 18, 1860, d. Dec. 9, 1883. 



COLLINS. Simeon Collins, m. Aug. 25, 1802, Dorcas 
Andrews of Ashficld. 

Children . 
*Erastus, b. Feb. 19, 1804. 



280 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Erastus Collins, b. Feb. 19, 1804, m. Lucy Blake of 
Goshen. He d. Jan. 31, 1866. She d. July 25, 1872. 

Children. 
*HiRAM, b. 1834. 

Laura Ann, b. 1837, m. Nov. 25, 1858, Sanford Boice of Ashfield. She is 
still living. 

Hiram Collins, b. 1834, m. Apr. 28, 1865, Emma C. 
Jones. He d. Jan. 11, 1917. She d. Feb. 23, 1903. 

Children. 
*George Baxter, b. July 5, 1867. 
Harvey H., b. Apr. 20, 1877. 

George Baxter Collins, b. Julv 5, 1867, m. Feb. 18, 
1904, Grace Clarke. 

Children. 
Mildred Grace, b. March 30, 1912. 



CONNELLY. John Connelly (Thomas), b. 1821, Ire- 
land, m. Catherine Cavanaugh. She d. June 28, 1908. He d. 
Sept. 17, 1902. 

Children. 
Johanna, b. 1854, d. 1861. 
Thomas, b. June 29, 1856. 
Catherine, b. June 29, 1856, d. 1862. 
*James, b. May 18, 1858, m. Bridget E. Keyes. 
Mary, b. Aug., 1860, m. Michael Kelley. 

James Connelly (John, Thomas), b. May 18, 1858, m. 
Jan. 4, 1890, Bridget E. Keyes. He d. April 23, 1898. 

Children. 
Bertha Ellen, b. July 13, 1891. 
Marion Keyes, b. Aug. 12, 1896, d. May 13, 1907. 



COOK. Chelsea Cook (Stephen, Aaron), b. March 4, 
1828, Tolland, Conn., m. Nov. 24, 1850, Julia R. Tucker. She 
d. June 30, 1867. He m. (2) Oct. 6, 1867, Helen M. Jennison. 
He d. March 8, 1905. 

Children. 
*Arthur Milton, b. Jan. 5, 1852, m. Clara A. Hamikon. 
Marcellus T., b. Mar. 9, 1854, d. Nov. 20, 1864. 
*RiCHARD H., b. Jan. 25, 1857, m. Minnie Olive Lawrence. 
*Charles L., b. Aug. 5, 1860, m. Sarah P. Riddell and Anna Wiswall. 
Edward Stephen, b. Aug. 26, 1862, d. Aug. 15, 1866. 
Chelsea, Jr., b. June 25, 1865, d. Dec. 11, 1882. 
Julia Rose, b. Mar. 16, 1869, m. Wm. F. Delabarre. 
Edwin Tucker, b. Jan. 29, 1871, m. Mary Truesdell. 
Silas Walden, b. July 24, 1874, m. Minnie Cole. 
Mary Delia, b. Nov. 28, 1877, m. Clarence P. Hassell. 
Helen Amy, b. Sept. 27, 1881, m. Robert Jose. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 281 

Arthur Milton Cook (Chelsea, Stephen, Aaron), b. 
Jan. 5, 1852, m. June 3, 1874, Clara A. Hamilton. 

Children. 
Minerva Augusta, b. Oct. 9, 1876, m. Oct. 15, 1902, William E. Tylander of 
Fort Pierce, Fla. 

Richard H. Cook (Chelsea, Stephen, Aaron), b. Jan. 25, 
1857, m. Nov. 13, 1879, Minnie Olive Lawrence. 

Children. 
Marcellus, b. Aug. 8, 1880, m. June 6, 1905, Minnie A. Darby. 
Louise, b. May 3, 1884, m. May 1, 1910, Fred Harmon. 

Charles L. Cook (Chelsea, Stephen, Aaron), b. Aug. 5, 
1860, m. Sept. 25, 1883, Sarah P. Riddell. He m. (2) Anna 
Wiswall. 

Children. 
Jessie Waldron, b. May 12, 1885, m. Elisha Brewster. 
Chelsea P., b. Sept. 20, 1887, m. Emeline Huseman. 
Catherine G., b. Aug. 2, 1898. 
Warren C, b. July 22, 1900. 



COOLEY. Gideon Cooley (Abner, Simon, Daniel, 
Benj£imin), b. May 6, 1750, m. April 10, 1775, Sarah Thwing. 
She d. July 10, 1812. He d. Dec. 13, 1815. 

Childre7i. 
John, b. Aug. 18, 1777, d. July 2, 1798. 
Leonard, b. Apr. 1, 1779. 
♦Gideon, Jr., b. Apr. 17, 1781, m. Julia Waite. 
QuARTUS Thwing, b. June 23, 1783, m. Hattie Ludden. 
Sally, b. Oct., 1786, d. unm., July 24, 1873. 

Gideon Cooley, Jr. (Gideon, Abner, Simon, Daniel, 
Benjamin), b. April 17, 1781, m. in 1808, Julia Waite. He 
d. Oct., 1845. She d. Jan. 23, 1871. 
Children. 
Justus Ruggles, b. Apr. 26, 1810. 
Charles, b. Sept. 10, 1812. 

Julia Ann, b. Jan. 21, 1815, m. Sept. 8, 1842, Rev. Thomas Snell Norton. 
Austin, b. Mar. 5, 1817. 

*Ed\vin, b. Mar. 24, 1819, m. Grace K. \'ining and Mrs. Caroline E. Owen. 
Calista, b. Mar. 29, 1821. 

Cutler, b. Oct. 17, 1823, m. Lucy Roxana Adams. 
Sarah W., b. Feb. 3, 1826, m. Harvey H. Miller. 
Amelia, b. Apr. 3, 1828. 

Edwin Cooley (Gideon, Gideon, Abner, Simon, Daniel, 
Benjamin), b. March 4, 1819, m. Grace K. Vining. Shed. 
May 6, 1854. He m. (2) June 15, 1856, Mrs. Caroline E. Owen. 



282 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
*Edwin Homer, b. Dec. 1, 1857, m. Mattie G. Page. 
Lizzie Grace, b. July 3, 1859, m. Sept. 24, 1885, William A, Green. 
Clara White, b. Oct. 3, 1862. 

Edwin Homer Cooley (Edwin, Gideon, Gideon, Abner, 
Simon, Daniel, Banjamin), b. Dec. 1, 1857, m. Mattie G. Page, 
July 24, 1882. 

Children. 
George Edwin, b. Apr. 10, 1884. 
Elijah Carleton, b. Aug. 11, 1886. 
Roy Bardwell, b. Dec. 29, 1887. 



CRITTENDEN. Abraham Crittenden came from Cran- 
brook, Eng., in 1609 with his wife Mary and three children 
and settled in Guilford, Conn. 

Samuel Crittenden (Abraham, Abraham, Abraham) 
was the jfirst in Conway, b. Feb. 17, 1734. Birthplace not 
given, m. Rebecca Mason. He d. May 31, 1816. 

Children. 
Samuel, b. 1755, m. July 30, 1774, Elizabeth Rice. 
Ebenezer, b. Oct. 18, 1757, m. Oct. 7, 1779, Love Booth. 
. John, b. Oct. 16, 1761, ni. Submit Dickinson. 
*Medad, b. 1765, m. Mary Boyden. 

Immer, b. Mar. 17, 1767, m. June 25, 1789, Experience Whitney. 
OsEE, b. 1769, m. Nov. 29, 1789, Lydia Reed. 

Medad Crittenden (Samuel, Abraham, Abraham, Abra- 
ham), b. 1756, m. Mary Boyden. He d. Aug. 13, 1856. She d. 
Feb., 1869. She was b. Aug 24, 1767, the day of the first 
town meeting, and was present at the Centennial Celebration 
of Conway in 1867. 

Children. 
Solomon, b. Feb. 1, 1785. 
Mary, b. Dec. 17, 1786. 
Medad, b. May 7, 1789, d. Nov. 7, 1809. 
S.\LLY, b. Oct. 13, 1790. 
Nehemiah Bovden, b. Sept. 30, 1797. 
Calista, b. July 16, 1800. 
Fidelia, b. Dec. 13, 1803. 

*David, b. Apr. 12, 1808, m. Harriet A. Hopkins. 

*AsAPH, b. June 3, 1810 m. (1) Lucretia Marsh, m. (2) Jane M. Foote. 
Maria, b. Sept. 20, 1812. 

David Crittenden (Medad, Samuel, Abraham, Abraham, 
Abraham), b. April 12, 1808, m. Feb. 8, 1827, Harriet A. Hopkins. 
She d. Jan. 22, 1873. He d. Oct. 15, 1856. 

Children. 
George F., b. Nov. 24, 1842, m. May 15, 1867, Kate C. Woodworth. 



I 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 283 

Asaph Crittenden (Medad, Samuel, Abraham, Abraham, 
Abraham), b. June 3, 1810, m. Lucretia Marsh. She d. Aug., 
1850. He m. (2) Jane M. Foote. He d. Aug. 27, 1862. 

Children. 
Henry Lyman, b. July 11, 1834, m. Apr. 26, 1854, Sarah Orvis. He was 

killed in the Civil War. 
Calista Maria, b. Aug. 19, 1835, m. John P. Hartwell. 
Adeline Louisa, b. Apr. 19, 1837, d. Jan. 3, 1866. 
Ellen Lucretia, b. June 22, 1839, m. Edward W. Hamilton. 
Mary Fidelia, b. Jan. 22, 1841, m. George S. Pond. 

Charles Eastman, b. Aug. 29, 1845, m. Dec. 31, 1868, Mary H. Handforth. 
Dr. Rufus Asa, b. Dec. 29, 1846, m. Annie Judson Murray. 
Sarah Ella, b. Sept. 29, 1848, m. Charles Spruce. 
Alice Judson, b. Mar. 15, 1850, d. May 15, 1866. 

WiLLARD Crittenden (Samuel, Samuel, Abraham, Abra- 
ham, Abraham), born Sept. 14, 1793, m. Parthenia Allis. 

Children. 
Mary Ann, b. Oct. 19, 1825, m. Theodore Field. 
Lyman, b. Feb. 26, 1829. 
Edwin, b. Jan. 15, 1831. 
Solomon, b. Mar. 6, 1837. 
William, b. Dec. 28, 1840.' 



DANIELS. Amos Daniels, b. [une 7, 1763, m. Dec. 17, 
1795, Lydia Montague. She d. April 11, 1851. He d. April 8, 
1851. 

Children. 
*Eliphalet, b. Apr. 12, 1797, m. Amanda Rice and I-vdia (Shaw) Rice. 
Submit, b. Oct. 25, 1799, d. unm. in 1847. 
Dexter, b. Sept. 30, 1801, m. Aug. 30, 1830, Maria Averv. 
Dickson Montague, b. Aug. 19, 1804, m. Nov. 9, 1831, Almira Farland. 
She d. Mav 29, 1833. He m. (2) Feb. 19, 1834, Electa Thayer Chapin. 
Obed, b. Nov. 23, 1807, m. Nov. 22, 1837, Eliza Gardner Martin. 

Elipitalet Danipzls (Amos), b. April 12, 1797, m. Oct. 18, 
1821, Amanda Rice. She d. Dec. 9, 1839. ^e m. (2) April 9, 
1840, Lydia (Shaw) Rice. 

Children. 
Emery Rice, b. Oct. 13, 1822, m. Ellen Wear and Pha?be Silliman. 
William Cullen, b. June 22, 1825, m. Harriet Louisa Bean. 
Amanda R., b. Mar. 20, 1827, d. Aug. 28, 1865. 
Charles Franklin, b. Dec. 24, 1829, d. Jan. 2, 1852. 
Eliphalet, b. Aug. 21, 1832, m. Emma M. Dickinson. 



DELABARRE. Edward Delabarre (Jacques Francois, 
Cornelie Joseph), b. Oct. 23, 1822, in Belgium, m. April 2, 1856, 
in Reading, Maria L. Hassell. He d. Julv 31, 1897. 



284 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
♦Arthur P., b. June 3, 1857, m. Carrie A. Merrill. 
Walter Edward, b. June 14, 1858, m. Elizabeth AI. Belt, and Mrs. Frances 

Freeland Hageman. He d. Oct., 1911. 
Louise D., b. Feb. 12, 1860, m. June 30, 1897, Frank C. Penniman. He d. 

Jan. 18, 1907. 
*Fred a., b. Oct. 20, 1861, m. Carrie Shepard Terrill. 
Edmund Burke, b. Sept. 25, 1863, m. Dorothea Cotten. 
*WiLLiAM F., b. Oct. 9, 1865, m. Julia R. Cook. 
Frank A., b. Apr. 8, 1868, m. Annie Sweeney. 
Laura A., b. Mar. 24, 1869, d. Apr. 27, 1871. 
Fannie, b. Jan., 1870, d. Apr. 5, 1871. 
Clara, b. 1872, d. 1872. 
Flora, b. 1873, d. 1873. 
Cora E., b. Aug. 9, 1877, m. Dr. Raymond Hunter of Greenfield. 

Arthur P. Delabarre (Edward, Jacques F., Cornelie J.), 
b. in Blackstone, June 3, 1857, m. Sept. 22, 1880, Carrie A. 
Merrill of Wilbraham. 

Children. 
Edward Ferdinand, b. May 19, 1882. 
Everett, b. Aug. 21, 1883. 
Madeline, b. Feb. 4, 1894. 



Fred A. Delabarre (Edward, Jacques F., Cornelie J.), 
b. Oct. 20, 1861, m. Nov. 24, 1886, Carrie Shephard Terrill. 

Children. 
M.\rion, b. May 29, 1890. 

William F. Delabarre (Edward, Jacques F., Cornelie 
J.), b. Oct. 9, 1865, m. Dec. 28, 1892, Julia R. Cook. He d. 
in Port Angeles, Wash., March 20, 1913. 

Children. 
Margaret, b. June 14, 1895. 



DICKINSON. Gardner Dickinson (Noah, James, 
James), b. July 15, 1804, m. Sept. 2, 1828, CaroHne Wells. 
She d. April 12, 1836. He m. (2) June 27, 1837, Mary Smith. 
She d. Dec. 3, 1862. 

Children. 
Parsons Fiske, b. Oct. 7, 1829, d. unm. Apr. 3, 1851. 
Clarissa Lee, b. Mar. 14, 1833, m. Sept. 8, 1858, Wlllard Merrill. 
Emily Minerva, b. Sept. 19, 1834, m. Aug. 20, 1856, Eliphalet Daniels. 

EuROTAS Dickinson (Jehu, Abner, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Nathaniel), b. Jan. 31, 1787, m. Oct. 27, 1812, Sarah Ann AUis. 
She d. July 28, 1886, aged 98 years. He d. Aug 26, 1880. They 
lived together 68 years. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 285 

Children. 
Henry A., b. Oct. 20, 1813, m. July 27, 1837, Sarah Bartlett. 
*Jehu Pomeroy, b. Jan. 17, 1815, m. Fannie Bardwelland Sarah A. Sanderson. 
*Thomas Sanderson, b. July 24, 1818, m. Mary S. Marsh. 
Elias Allen, b. Feb. 5, 1820, m. Nov. 17, 1842, Remembrance Bardwell. 
Salmon White, b. May 7, 1822, m. Nov. 22, 1853, Sarah Hvde. 
Sarah Ann, b. June 13, 1827, m. Jan. 2, 1858, Charles C. P. Bardwell. 
George E., b. June 13, 1829, m. July 28, 1868, Emma Hayden. 
Mary Ann, b. Aug. 4, 1833, m. Dec. 2, 1857, Charles Frary. 

Jehu Pomeroy Dickinson (Eurotas, Jehu, Abner, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Nathaniel), b. Jan. 17, 1815, m. Fannie 
Bardwell and Sarah A. Sanderson. 

Children. 
Henry A., b. Mav 11, 1841, d. in the Civil War. 
DwiGHT L., b. Juiv 2, 1843. 
Fannie S., b. Jan. 9, 1846. 

Joseph Clinton, b. Jan. 12, 1851, d. Aug. 9, 1852. 
Mary Ellen, b. Oct. 6, 1854, d. Nov. 7, 1854. 
Clara Amelia, b. Jan. 16, 1856, m. June 11, 1880, Frank Sikes. 

Thomas Sanderson Dickinson (Eurotas, Jehu, Abner, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Nathaniel), b. July 24, 1818, m. Jan. 4, 1843, 
Mary Smith Marsh. She d. July 22, 1915. He d. July 1, 1912. 

Children. 
Baxter Allis, b. Nov. 16, 1843, m. Fannie Eleanor Gunn. 
Alice Cl.ara, b. June 16, 1847, m. Oct. 10, 1867, Daniel Burnett. He d. 

Nov. 22, 1870. She m. (2) Jan. 30, 1872, Henrv D. Bartlett. 
George Buchanan, b. Feb. 14, 1857, d. Jan. 13, 1879. 



DINSMORE. Capt. Abel Dinsmore (Thomas), b. in 

Bedford, Mass., Sept. 27, 1736, m. Esther . Shed. Dec. 25, 

1831. He d. here in 1803. He was in the Revolutionary War 

as captain. 

Children. 

Thomas, b. Mar. 18, 1757, d. Jan. 2, 1798. 

Ruth, b. Oct. 10, 1758, m. Nov. 29, 1779, Hon. Medad Montague of Sunder- 
land. 

Eri, b. Mar. 12, 1761. 

Muriel, b. Dec. 19, 1762, m. Jan. 16, 1784, Phineas Rice. 

Zimri, b. Feb. 3, 1764, m. Abigail . 

Serene, b. Feb. 9, 1767, m. Mar. 26, 1787, Daniel Mavnard. 

Abel, b. Feb. 19, 1771. 

Asa, b. July 28, 1772, m. Betty . 

*JOHN, b. Sept. 12, 1774, m. Mary Gates. 

*Samuel, b. Aug. 26, 1776. 

William, b. May 30, 1780, m. Submit Avery. 

Lieut. John Dinsmore (Abel, Thomas), b. Sept. 12, 1774, 
m. March 3, 1795, Mary Gates. She d. March 1, 1848. He 
d. Dec. 11, 1851. 



286 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 

Moses, b. July 18, 1796, m. Sanderson. 

Thomas, b. Mar. 24, 1798, m. Sally Waite. 

Louisa, b. July 5, 1800, m. Stebbins. 

Clara, b. May 28, 1802, m. Horatio Lee. 

RuFUS, b. June 17, 1804, m. Louisa Stebbins. 

Ruth, b. Sept. 12, 1806, m. Nehemiah Leonard. 

*Alvin, b. Nov. 28, 1808, m. Maria Brown, Lucinda Wells and Mrs. Lydia 

Daniels. 
Lydia, b. Nov. 21, 1810, m. Sylvester Cheesboro. 
Mary, b. Sept. 26, 1813, m. Isaiah Morris Brown. 
Sally, b. Mar. 11, 1816, m. Stevina Rice. 

Alvin Dinsmore (John, Abel, Thomas), b. Nov. 28, 
1808, m. Nov. 8, 1833, Maria Brown. She d. July 12, 1856. 
He m. (2) Dec. 24, 1857, Lucinda Wells. She d. Oct. 28, 1865. 
He m. (3) Nov. 15, 1866, Mrs. Lydia Daniels. She d. April 6, 
1898. He d. Aug. 4, 1873. 

Childroi. 
Lucy M., b. Aug. 17, 1836, m. Mar. 16, 1859, Daniel G. Rice. 
Eliza J., b. Aug. 21, 1839, m. Nov. 21, 1861, Joseph Severence. 
RuFus F., b. Aug. 17, 1848, m. Hattie E. Vining and Clara Morgan. 
Charles Wells, b. Apr. 20, 1849, m. Jennie May Newcomb. 

Samuel Dinsmore (Abel, Thomas), b. Aug. 26, 1776^ 
m. Calista May. He m. (2) Anna . 

Children. 
Charles D., b. Mav 6, 1836, d. Feb. 25, 1855. 
Eliza Ann, b. Apr. 6, 1837, m. Mar. 23, 1859, Otis W. Lawrence. 
William, b. Apr. 16, 1839. 
George Wayland, b. Dec. 25, 1842. 
Ellen, b. July 9, 1844. 
Carlos, b. 1849, d. Aug. 17, 1859. 



DENHAM— DUNHAM— DUNHAME—DONHAM, on old 
records. John was the original immigrant and was in Plymoutli 
in 1633. Hed. in 1669. 

Capt. Samuel Dunham (Cornelius), b. Sept. 16, 1763, 
m. Nancy Adams. She d. Feb. 18, 1802. He m. (2) Matilda 
Goodale. She d. July 26, 1850. He d. June, 1849. 

Children. 
Nancy Adams, b. July 18, 1800, ni. Oct. 13, 1826, Daniel Eldridge. 
Samuel Adams, b. Feb. 17, 1802. 

Louisa, b. May 16, 1804, m. Sept. 14, 1830, Rev. Lucian Farnham. 
Butler, b. July 25, 1805. 
Olivia, b. Feb. 22, 1807, m. Rev. Romulus Barnes. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 287 

DWIGHT. John Dwight, the common ancestor of all 
who now bear this name, came to America in 1634 from Dedham, 
Eng., and settled in Dedham, Mass. 

Seth Dwight (Josiah, Seth, Henry, Timothy, John), 
b. Dec. 15, 1769, in Williamsburg, m. Dec. 30, 1790, Hannah 
Strong. She d. April 15, 1813. He m. (2) Mrs. Susan Hewson. 
Hed. April 3, 1825. 

Children. 
Harriet, b. Feb. 21, 1792, m. Mav 7, 1812, James Dana. 
Delia Jane Holgombe, b. Mar. 8, 1794, ni. Jan. 1, 1817, Rev. John White of 

Dedham. 
Cornelia Strong, b. Dec. 8, 1801, m. William Justus Buck. 
♦Harrison Gray Otis, b. Nov. 22, 1803, m. Elizabeth Barker and Mary Lane. 

Rev. Harrison Gray Otis Dwight (Seth, Josiah, Seth, 
Henry, Timothy, John), b. Nov. 22, 1803, m. Jan. 4, 1828, 
Elizabeth Barker of North Adams. She d. of plague at St. 
Stefano, Constantinople, July 7, 1837. He m. (2) April 16, 
1839, Mary Lane, Sturbridge. She d. in Constantinople, Nov. 
16, 1860. Dr. Dwight was a missionary in Turkey. On a 
visit to this country he was killed in a railroad accident, Jan. 25, 
1862. 

Children. 
James Harrison, b. Malta, Oct. 9, 1830, m. (1) Aug. 6, 1855, Susan Eaton 

Schneider, Broosa, Turkey. She d. Feb. 13, 1860. He m. (2) Josephine 

C. Wilder. 
William Buck, b. Constantinople, May 22, 1833, m. Nov. 17, 1859, Eliza 

Howe Schneider. 
Henry Otis, b. Constantinople, June 3, 1843, m. Mar. 1867, Mary A. Bliss of 

Constantinople. 
Cornelia Porter, b. Nov. 12, 1846. Was a missionarv in Turkey. 
Sarah Hinsdale, b. July 17, 1848, m. May 29, 1869, Rev. Edward Riggs of 

Constantinople. 
Susan Elizabeth, b. Feb. 5, 1850. 



ELDRIDGE. Daniel Eldridge (Samuel), b. in 1803, 
m. Oct. 13, 1826, Nancv Adams Dunham. She d. Feb. 23, 1873. 
He d. Jan. 30, 1875. 

Children. 
♦Samuel D., b. Mar. U, 1829, m. Susan Lilley. 
Nancy, d. Nov. 29, 1860. 

Louisa, b. in 1831, m. Sept. 7, 1863, William H. Sears. 
Lucien F., b. in 1839, m. Dec. 27, 1864, Eliza F. Sikes. 

Samuel D. Eldridge (Daniel, Samuel), b. March 23, 
1829, m. Susan Lilley. She d. in 1899. He d. Dec. 1, 1884. 

Children. 
*L. Butler, b. 1857, m. Clara B. Weston. 
Daniel, b. May 14, 1864, m. Nov. 29, 1889, Emma L. Warfield. 



288 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

L. Butler Eldridge (Samuel D., Daniel, Samuel), b. 
in 1857, m. Oct. 10, 1889, Clara B. Weston. He d. in 1900. 

Children. 
Ralph Weston, b. Aug. 28, 1890, m. Gladys Graves. 
Vera E. 
Walter Lyman. 



EMERSON. Thomas Emerson was in Ipswich in 1639 
and d. there May 1, 1666. 

Rev. John Emerson (Joseph, Edward, Joseph, Thomas), 
b. Maiden, Nov. 20, 1745, m. June 23, 1770, Sabra Cobb of 
Boston. She d. May 25, 1806. He m. (2) Mrs. Betsey Dunbar, 
Belchertown. He d. Dec. 8, 1821. 

Children. 
Waldo, b. Aug. 27, 1771, d. Sept. 18, 1771. 
Sabra, b. Apr. 11, 1773, m. May 4, 1798, Rev. Joseph Field. 
Hannah, b. Sept. 1, 1774, d. Oct. 26, 1813. 
Lois Cobb, b. Oct. 1, 1776, m. June 5, 1795, Simeon Strong. 
Rebecca, b. Sept. 14, 1777, m. Nov. 7, 1804, Scotto Clark. 
William, b. May 10, 1778, d. Feb. 6, 1802. 
John, Id. Dec. 21, 1780, m. Persis Adams. 
Joseph, b. Sept. 5, 1782, m. Sarah E. Cheney. 

Charles Lee, b. Mav 4, 1784, m. Lydia Clapp and Rhoda E. Edwards. 
Samuel M., b. Nov. 17, 1785, m. Charlotte Bulkley. 



FARNSWORTH. The Farnsworths in America are of Eng- 
lish origin and derived their name from a place in Lancashire. 
Mathias Farnsworth came to America in 1657. 

Gershom Farnsworth (Gershom, William, Ebenezer, 
Mathias, Mathias), b. Nov. 22, 1779, m. Dec. 31, 1810, Dollv 
Hinckley. She d. July 25, 1861. He d. Jan. 20, 1863. 

Children. 
*John Randolph, b. Dec. 3, 1811, m. Martha E. Anthony. 
Dolly Ann, b. Mar. 31, 1814, m. Apr. 4, 1853, James Bennett. 
Gershom, b. Aug. 17, 1816, d. unm. Apr. 24, 1865. 
Esther, b. Oct. 12, 1820, d. Julv 30, 1822. 
♦Richard R., b. July 19, 1822, m. Feb. 18, 1848, Nancy S. Torrey. 

John Randolph Farnsworth (Gershom, Gershom, Wil- 
liam, Ebenezer, Mathias, Mathias), b. Dec. 3, 1811, m. March 
18, 1840, Martha E. Anthony. He d. Nov. 10, 1873. 

Children, 
Eliza, b. Julv 26, 1841, m. June 6, 1862, Henry Nye. 
William R., b. Dec. 2, 1846, m. Aug. 15, 1869, Alice L. Sherman. 
Esther A., b. Oct. 8, 1850, m. Oct. 28, 1875, Clarence Williams. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 289 

Richard R. Farnsworth (Gershom, Gershom, William, 
Ebenezer, Mathias, Mathias), b. July 19, 1822, m. Feb. 18, 1848, 
Nancy S. Torrey. 

Children. 
Charles D., h. July 16, 1852, m. Carrie A. Stockwell. 



FAY. Putnam Fay (Hezekiah, Hezekiah, John, David, 
John), b. Feb. 29. 1780, in Southboro, m. Nov. 1, 1806, Elizabeth 
Wilson. She d. here April 21, 1862. He d. May 18, 1858. 

Children. 
Putnam Benjamin, b. Jan. 27, 1808, d, unm. June 1, 1874. 
Waterman Burr, b. Sept. 4, 1809, m. Ruth Moore Parsons. 
George Willard, b. July 9, 1810, m. Abbie P. Tufts. 
Samuel Larned, b. Aug. 1813, m. Marv Mercer. 
Eliza Ann, b. Feb. 26,^1816, d. unm. July 20, 1871. 
William Brower, b. Oct. 16, 1818, d. unm. Aug. 8, 1879. 
Martha B., b. Oct. 23, 1820, d. Mar. 18, 1837. 



FIELD. The name of Field is an ancient and honorable 
one in England and can be traced far back of the conquest. 
Probably not a dozen families in England can prove so high 
an antiquity. Zechariah Field was the American ancestor 
of the Conweiy branch. He was born in East Ardsle\\ Yorkshire, 

in 1596, m. about 1641. Marv . She d. about 1670. He d. 

June 30, 1666. 

John Field (Eliakim, John, John, Zechariah), b. Hatfield, 
Aug. 25, 1760, m. in 1789, Lucv Look of Conwav. She d. 
July 29. 1854. He d. Jan. 19, 1824. Jl ^ 

Children. . 

Polly, b. Apr. 27, 1790, d. Oct. 25, 1816. ^^j- "/ A^i-w-it , M 

Nancy, b. Oct. 20, 1791, m. Elijah Page. ^' 

*WiLLiAM, b. Dec. 8, 1793, m. Submit Hamilton. 
*JOHN, b. June 8, 1796, m. Fidelia Nash. 
LuciNDA, b. June 8, 1798, m. Franklin Childs. 
Prudence, b. Aug. 20, 1800, d. Xov. 30, 1839. 
Edithia, b. May 6, 1803, d. Aug. 1, 1804. 






WiLLL^M Field (John, Eliakim, John, John, Zechariah), 
b. Dec. 8, 1793. m. Oct. 7, 1828, Submit Hamilton. He d. 
June 7, 1845. She d. in Jackson, Mich., aged 86 years. 

Children. 
Lucy Ann, b. July 19, 1829. 
Dencie Lucretia, b. July 29, 1831. 
Samuel Grimes, b. Dec. 8, 1833, m. Anna Green. 

Leonard Hamilton, b. July 8, 1838, m. Mrs. Alia P. (Rayner) Perkins. 
Mary Jane, b. Jan. 9, 1841, m. June 11, 1867, Henry J. Durant. 



290 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

John Field (John, Eliakim, John, John, Zechariah), b. 
June 8, 1796, m. Sept. 25, 1828, FideUa Nash. She d. Sept. 22, 
1865. He d. June 13, 1876. 

Children. 

*Chandler Augustus, b. Sept. 19, 1829, m. Helen M. Wells. 

Joseph Nash, b. Sept. 28, 1831, m. Jane Hayes and Catherine Blackwell. 

Marshall, b. Sept. 18, 1835, m. Nannie Douglass Scott, m. (2) Mrs. Delia 

(Spencer) Caton. He d. Jan. 16, 1906. 
Helen Eliza, b. Feb. 3, 1837, m. Hon. Lyman B. James. 
Henry, b. May 25, 1841, m. Florence Lathrop. 
Elizabeth Page, b. Sept. 25, 1843, d-. Dec. 27, 1854. 
William E., b. Feb. 17, 1845, d. May 22, 1845. 
Laura Nash, b. Oct. 30, 1848, ni. Henry Dibble. 

Chandler Augustus Field (John, John, EHakim, John, 
John, Zechariah), b. Sept. 19, 1829, m. Feb. 27, 1869, Helen M. 
Wells. He d. Jan. 11, 1875. She d. Jan. 11, 1917. 

Children. 
Henry N.. b. Nov. 15, 1874, d. Nov. 15, 1874. 



Solomon Field (Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, Zechariah), 
b. June 28, 1746, m. Oct. 25, 1770, Mary Wright. She d. 
June 24, 1821. He d. April 20, 1828. 

Children. 

Persis, b. Sept. 9, 1771, d. unm. May 12, 1853. 

Anna, b. Jan. 14, 1774, m. Samuel Childs. 

Solomon, b. Nov. 1, 1776, m. Ruth Porter. 

Reuben Wright, b. Apr. 4, 1779, m. Polly White and Abigail L. White. 

*SiLAS, b. Sept. 3, 1781, m. Martha Harrington and Gratia Catlin. 

*Horace, b. Apr. 14, 1784, m. Seviah Burnham. 

*Joel, b. Oct. 27, 1786, m. Philinda Wilder. 

*Chester, b. Dec. 22, 1788, m. Sophia Loveridge and Rebecca (Johnson) 

Munson. 
*Elijah, b. Nov. 13, 1791, m. Filena Arms and Nancy Grey Ranney. 
Electa, b. Feb. 17, 1794, m. David Edson. 

Silas Field (Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, Zech- 
ariah), b. Sept. 3, 1781, m. Martha Harrington. He m. (2) 
Aug. 12, 1802, Gratia Thankful Catlin. He d. May 19, 1862. 
She d. Jan. 6, 1867. 

Children. 
*Charles Nelson, b. Oct. 31, 1810, m. Anna Newhall and Rebecca D. Tolman. 
Gr.\tia, b. Jan. 15, 1817, m. Jonathan M. Thompson. 

Charles Nelson Field (Silas, Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, 
Samuel, Zechariah), b. Oct. 31, 1810, nl. Dec, 1833, Anna 
Newhall. She d. March 4, 1846. He m. (2) Sept. 23, 1846, 
Rebecca D. Tolman. He d. Oct. 14, 1884. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 291 

Children. 
Wealthy Ardelia, b. Mar. 1, 1836, ni. Mar. 1, 1854, Ebenezer A. Biirnham. 
♦Silas H., b. Mar. 23, 1838, m. Harriet M. Boyden. 
Emily Annie, b. Feb. 18, 1846, m. Dec. 25, 1866, Albert S. Edgarton. 
*Charles Theodore, b. May 26, 1850, ni. Fannie Maria Jones. 

Silas H. Field (Charles N., Silas, Solomon, Moses, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Zechariah), b. March 23, 1838, m. Jan., 1865, 
Harriet N. Boyden. She d. Feb. 5, 1877. He d. March 9, 1909. 

Children. 
Emory Whitney, b. Oct. 16, 1866. 
Anna Miranda, b. July 25, 1868, ni. June 9, 1891, Charles Williams. 

Charles Theodore Field (Charles N., Silas, Solomon, 
Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, Zechariah), b. May 26, 1850, m. 
April 28, 1875, Fannie Maria Jones. 

Children. 
Cynthia Rebecca, b. Mar. 5, 1876. 
Harriet Maria, b. Dec. 1, 1877. 
Charles Theodore, b. Apr. 4, 1882. 
Winifred, b. Nov. 5, 1886. 
Grace, b. Aug. 31, 1889. 

Horace Field (Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Zechariah), b. April 14, 1784, m. Dec. 3, 1808, Seviah Burnham. 
She d. Aug. 26, 1862. He d. Oct. 11, 1831. 

Children. 
Horace Loren, b. July 2, 1809, m. Mary S. Sherman. 
Lovina Bardwell, b. Oct. 17, 1812, m. May 31, 1837, Stephen Averill. 
Alvin S., b. Nov. 2, 1814, m. Sylvia Crafts. 
Elijah, b. Dec. 16, 1817, m. Emerette L. Hill. 
Electa, b. F'eb., 1820, d. Aug. 29, 1822. 
*MosES B., b. Oct. 25, 1822, m. Lucinda Edson. 
Abigail B., b. Mar. 29, 1825, m. Feb. 15, 1841, Emerson C. Foote. 
Electa, b. Aug. 1, 1827, m. Dec. 28, 1842, Edward Howland. 

Moses Burnham Field (Horace, Solomon, Moses, 
Ebenezer, Samuel, Zechariah), b. Oct. 25, 1822, m. March 16, 
1848, Lucinda Edson. She d. June 2, 1894. He d. March 14, 
1867. 

Children. 
El win, b. Nov. 5, 1849, d. Feb. 23, 1871. 
Charlotte, b. May 16, 1855, m. Mar. 12, 1873, Emory Brown. 

Joel Field (Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, Zech- 
ariah), b. Oct. 27, 1786, m. Feb. 10, 1820, Philinda Wilder. 
She d. Sept. 15, 1890. He d. Sept. 3, 1838. 



292 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
*CoNSiDER Wilder, b. Dec. 4, 1820, m. Marv Ann Macomber. 
*IsRAEL Wilder, b. Feb. 20, 1823, m. Elizabeth A. Ranney. 
Mary Wright, b. Apr. 11, 1825, m. Apr. 16, 1846, Samuel Jackson. 
Joel, b. Sept. 20, 1827, m. Fannie Mellen. 
Rebecca, b. Nov. 19, 1829, m. Samuel Ward. 
Mercy Philinda, b. Feb. 17, 1831, m. George C. Dole. 

Consider Wilder Field (Joel, Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, 
Samuel, Zechariah), b. Dec. 4. 1820, m. Nov. 28. 1850, Mary 
Ann Macomber. He d. Dec. 13, 1876. She d. July 14, 1905. 

Children. 
Franklin Edgar, b. July 3, 1857. 

Etta Frances, b. May 21, 1861, m. Apr. 9, 1878, Frederick W. Dowding. 
Mary Wilder, b. Dec. 19, 1863, m. Oct. 17, 1893, George A. Roberts. 
Elizabeth Maria, b. Nov. 20, 1866. 

Israel Wilder Field (Joel, Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, 
Samuel, Zechariah), b. Feb. 20, 1823, m. July 1, 1851, Elizabeth 
Ann Ranney. He d. Dec. 27, 1863. 

Children. 
Eleanor Jane, b. Jan. 27, 1856, m. Charles Fisher. 
Edgar A., b. Feb. 10, 1860, m. Gertrude Judd. 

Chester Field (Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Zechariah), b. Dec. 22, 1788, m. Oct. 18, 1813, Sophia Loveridge. 
She d. April 3, 1841. He m. (2) Rebecca (Johnson) Munson. 
He d. Oct. 22, 1855. She d. April 10, 1876. 

Children. 
Chester, b. Sept. 4, 1816, m. Louisa Blanchard and Marietta Curlev. 
Sophia, b. Oct. 20, 1818, d. Mar. 5, 1829. 
Persis, b. Oct. 4, 1821, m. Apr. 11, 1844, Porter Mitchell. 
Austin, b. Sept. 10, 1825, m. Sarah Rockwood and Mrs. Martha (Butler) 
Chapin. 

Elijah Field (Solomon, Moses, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
Zechariah), b. Nov. 13, 1791, m. Oct. 15, 1818, Philena Arms. 
She d. June 10, 1828, He m. (2) Nancy Grey Rannev, Jan. 13, 
1829. She d. Aug., 1872. He d. Sept. 18, 1871. 

Children. 
Harriet Pamelia, b. Nov. 28, 1819, d. Nov. 18, 1843. 

Henry Arms, b. Sept. 9, 1823, m. Oct. 1853, Ellen M. . 

Philena, b. Jan. 23, 1826, m. Oct., 1850, Liberty Pease. 

George, b. May 13, 1829, m. Sarah Lyon Pierce. 

Eliza Arms, b. Mar. 18, 1832, m. Oct. 18, 1851, Charles A. Forbes. 

Solomon Elijah, b. July 8, 1834, m. Celestia I. Eastman. 

Helen Lucinda, b. Mar. 2, 1837, m. Nov. 27, 1856, Charles E. Williams. 

Amelia Sophia, b. Nov. 5, 1839, m. June 17, 1866, Truman Bowman. 

Franklin Herbert, b. Sept. 19, 1849, m. Laura Weston. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 293 

Theodore Tobey Field (Theodore, Elijah, Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, Zechariah), b. Dec. 9, 1816, m. Nov. 19, 1845, 
Marv A. Crittenden. She d. April 22, 1880. He d. Dec. 22, 
1877. 

Children. 
♦Egbert, b. Oct. 11, 1847, ni. Sarah A. Rice. 
*CEcn., b. June 12, 1850, m. Lucy P. Rice. 
*Ir\vix, b. Apr. 17, 1857, m. Cora B. Hamilton. 
M.\RV E., b. Feb. 17, 1859. 
Cynthi.a. E., b. Mar. 29, 1860, m. F~eb. 20, 1878, James B. Rice. 

Egbert Field (Theodore T., Theodore, l^lijah. Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, Zechariah), b. Oct. 11, 1847, m. Jan. 16. 1878, 
Sarah A. Rice. 

Children. 
Claren'ce Theodore, b. Nov. 30, 1878. 
Ernest P.^rker, b. Jan. 3, 1881. 
Roy Cutler, b. Aug. 20, 1883. 
Eva Lucy, b. Oct. 16, 1885, d. Nov. 27, 1909. 

Cecil Field (Theodore T., Theodore, Elijah, Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, Zechariah), b. June 12, 1850, m. Jan. 31, 1872, 
Lucy P. Rice. 

Children. 
Arthur Shirley, b. Dec. 25, 1873. 
Elizabeth Bell,!^. . , ,, io io-- 
Edith S.arah, ')Tw.ns, b. May 18, 18/ /. 

May Elsie, b. Mar. 6, 1881. 
Alfred Cecil, b. Sept. 4, 1883. 
Wilbur Chauxcev, b. Jan. 15, 1886. 

Irv.tn Field (Theodore T., Theodore, Elijah, Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, Zechariah), b. April 17, 1857, m. Nov. 19, 1878, 
Cora Bell Hamilton. He d. Oct. 4, 1881. 

Children. 
Albert Irwin, b. Oct. 5, 1879. 
Louise Ellen, b. Apr. 19, 1881. 

Thomas Carter F"ield (Theodore, Elijah, Joseph, Joseph, 
Joseph, Zechariah), b. Aug. 5, 1815, m. Nov. 5, 1840, Content 
Sanderson. He d. May 27, 1872. She d. Jan. 2, 1883. 

Children. 
Edmund Sanderson, b. Sept. 17, 1841, d. Nov. 11, 1883. 
Wilson Eugene, b. Nov. 15, 1843, m. Susan W. Flagg. 
UiANA Ameli.\, b. Sept. 22, 1847, d. Sept. 15, 1862. 
Abbott Wesley, b. Julv 20, 1855, m. Eunice Ames. 
Addie Leora, b. Mar. 2'5, 1857, d. June 23, 1886. 
George Adams, b. Feb. 15, 1861. m. Carrie xM. Packard. 



294 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

FLAGG. Thomas Flagg was probably the ancestor of 
all families bearing the name in this country. He came to Boston 
in 1642. 

Eleazer Flagg (Eleazer, Eleazer, Eleazer, Thomas), 
b. Jan. 10, 1767, m. Feb. 3, 1793, Elizabeth Warren. She d. 
May 15, 1844. He d. May 28, 1847. 

Children. 
Chandler, b. Nov. 21, 1794. 
Elizabeth, b. Aug. 9, 1796. 
LuRA, b. Mar. 16, 1798. 
Eleazer Fletcher, b. Jan. 8, 1800. 
Sarah, b. July 27, 1801. 

Fidelia, b. Feb. 23, 1803, m. Nov. 1, 1829, Josiah Bond. 
*Samuel, b. Dec. 3, 1804, m. Rhoda G. Macomber. 
Jeremiah, b. Aug. 5, 1807, m. Clarissa Munson. 
Miranda, b. Feb. 25, 1809. 

Tabitha, b. Sept. 1, 1811, m. Jan. 30, 1841, Josiah Bond. 
EuciBiA Naville, b. Apr. 13, 1815. 

Samuel Flagg (Eleazer, Eleazer, Eleazer, Eleazer, 
Thomas), b. Dec. 3, 1804, m. Apr. 12, 1838. Rhoda G. Macomber. 
She d. July 12, 1900. He d. July 26, 1876. 

Children. 
*Charles Chandler, b. Jan. 7, 1839, m. Mary A. Brown. 
George Washington, b. Nov. 22, 1840, m. Charlotte C. King. 
Fannie Elizabeth, b. Aug. 6, 1843, m. Aug. 13, 1862, Elias F. Bradford. 
Susan W., b. Jan. 22, 1846, m. Oct. 8, 1867, Wilson E. Field. 
*E. Fletcher, b. Mar. 3, 1848, m. Ella M. Lawrence. 
Hattie M., b. June 27, 1851, d. Sept. 21, 1887. 

Charles C. Flagg (Samuel, Eleazer, Eleazer, Eleazer, 
Eleazer, Thomas), b. Jan. 7, 1839, m. Oct. 24, 1860, Mary A. 
Brown. 

Children. 
Alton Ellsworth, b. May 26, 1862, d. Aug. 26, 1871. 
Charles Dwight, b. Oct. 10, 1864, m. Oct. 10, 1888, Bertha M. Quinn. 
Mary Claire, b. Apr. 14, 1867, m. June 11, 1890, Daniel McFarland. She 

d. Sept. 3, 1899. 
William M., b. Apr. 14, 1870. 
Grace Edna, b. Nov. 19, 1872. 

Edith Eliza, b. July 12, 1875, m. Oct. 4, 1904, Harry Clough. 
Elwin Chandler, b. July 12, 1875. 

Lottie Stella, b. Feb. 27, 1878, m. Nov. 1, 1899, George Robertson. 
Alice Maud, b. May 30, 1880, m. Jan. 1, 1900, William Alden. 

E. Fletcher Flagc, (Samuel, Eleazer, Eleazer, Eleazer, 
Eleazer, Thomas), b. March 3, 1848, m. May 24, 1874, Ella M. 
Lawrence. 

Children. 
Minnie Rhoda, b. June 27, 1876, ni. Sept. 11, 1898, Frederick Chapman. 
Clarence A., b. July 1, 1878, m. June 23, 1908, Gertrude Peck. 
Lawrence F., b. Oct. 10, 1881, d. Mar. 4, 1883. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 295 

FOOTE. Nathaniel Foote was one of the first settlers at 
Wethersfield, Conn. 

David Foote (David, Daniel, Nathaniel), b. Washington, 
Conn., March 13, 1775, m. Dec. 21, 1800, Betsey Minor. She d. 
Sept. 27, 1838. He m. (2) Nov. 20. 1841, Eliza Gardner. She 
d. Feb. 14, 1844. He m. (3) Oct. 21, 1844, Rhoda Waterbury. 

Children. 
Ermina, b. Jan. 27, 1802, m. Jan. 30, 1823, Jonathan Xash, Jr. 
Harlow, b. Jan. 31, 1804, m. Nov. 29, 1827, Euretta Rockwell. 
Amanda, b. Mar. 18, 1806, ni. Aug. 1, 1826, Jonathan A. Rathbone. 
Eliza, b. Aug. 10, 1808, m. Mar. 8, 1825, William Thomas. 
*David Austin, b. Dec. 10, 1810, m. Nov. 13, 1839, Esther E. Hill, m. (2) 

Luzetta F~elton. 
Amelia Ann, b. Apr. 25, 1813, m. Nov. 28, 1838, David C. Rogers. 
Mariette, b. Nov. 16, 1815, m. Apr. 30, 1840, Porter Wells. 
*Emerson Cogswell, b. June 10, 1818, m. ¥eh. 16, 1841, Abigail Field. 
*Alden Amelius Gay, b. Sept. 9, 1820, m. Julia E. Wells. 
Jane Maria, b. Apr. 6, 1823, m. Asaph Crittenden. 

David Austin Foote (David, David, Daniel, Nathaniel), 
b. Dec. 10, 1810, m. Nov. 13, 1839, Esther E. Hill. She d. in 1858. 
He m. (2) Luzetta Felton. He d. Dec. 18, 1869. 

Children. 
Bessie, b. Nov. 26, 1843, m. Nov. 11, 1868, Daniel Ballard, Jr. 
Mary, m. Alfred Ballard. 
Etta E., b. Jan. 1858, d. Dec. 15, 1878. 
Frances Eliz.\, b. May 11, 1861, d. Nov. 5, 1879. 

Emerson Cogswell Foote (David, David, Daniel, 
Nathaniel), b. June 10, 1818, m. Feb. 16, 1841, Abigail Field. 
She d. Dec. 30, 1908. 

Children. 
Sevi.\h Eliza, b. May 19, 1843, m. John B. Packard. 
Josephine, b. Nov., 1856, m. William K. Batchelder. 
Anna, b. in 1859, m. Fred Holcomb, Dec. 30, 1880. 

Alden a. G. Foote (David, David, Daniel, Nathaniel), 
b. Sept. 9, 1820, m. Jan. 5, 1848, JuHa E. Wells, She d. Aug. 
31, 1858. He d. June 2, 1858., 

Children. 

Lucy Ellen, b. June 24, 1850, m. Lloyd. 

Frances Ermina, b. Aug. 6, 1855. 

Julia, b. July 28, 1858, m. Charles Austin. 



FRENCH. John French came from Rehoboth to North- 
ampton in 1676. Was a property owner in Deerfield at the time 
of his death. 



296 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Capt. Thomas French (Thomas, Thomas, John), b. April 
22, 1732, m. July 29, 1752, Miriam Billings. He d. here Dec. 8, 

1813. 

Cliildren. 
Tryphena, b. June 6, 1753, m. David Childs and Dr. Moses Hayden. 
Tertius, b. Mar. 6, 1756, m. Joanna Billings. 
AcHSAH, b. Feb. 4, 1759. 

Lucy, b. May 2, 1761, m. Sept. 16, 1783, Joseph Pratt. 
Lucius, b. Sept. 13, 1763. 
Patty, b. Feb. 3, 1765, m. Sept. 22, 1788, Jeremiah Dunbar. 



GATES. Stephen Gates from Norwich, Eng., was the first 
immigrant of this name in America. 

Israel Gates (Benjamin, Simon, Stephen, Stephen), b. 
in 1727. The following children of Israel Gates are noted in 
different places and without connection with each other. 

Children. 
*Peter, b. in 1753, m. Anna Childs and Experience Arms. 
Anna, b. Mar. 2, 1771, m. Josiah Boyden, Jr. 
Experience, b. Apr. 16, 1775, m. Jan. 31, 1798, Henry Arms. 
Luke, m. Rebecca Kittridge. 

Peter Gates (Israel, Benjamin, Simon, Stephen, Stephen) 
b. 1753, m. Feb. 18, 1778, Anna Childs. He m. (2) Dec. 19, 1782, 
Experience Arms. She d. April 2, 1824. He d. Dec. 15, 1821. 

Children. 
Israel, b. Nov. 17, 1783, m. Hannah Lincoln. 
Anna, b. June 10, 1785. 
Daniel, b. Jan. 23, 1787, m. Lydia White. 
Electa, b. Jan. 8, 1789, m. Samuel Childs, "The Lawyer." 
Henry, b. Nov. 25, 1791, m. Julia Case. 

Sumner, b. Apr. 15, 1796, m. Mary . 

Spencer, b. Aug. 14, 1798. 
WiLLARD, b. June 28, 1802. 



GRAVES. William Graves (Selah, Oliver, Nathaniel, 
John, Thomas), b. Nov. 22, 1787, m. Aug. 31, 1836, Wealthy 
Smith. She d. Dec. 16, 1862. He d. July 23, 1867. 

Children. 
*Brainard S., b. Apr. 20, 1842, m. Eliza M. Parker, m. (2) Clara Skiff. 
Mary A., b. May 1, 1844, d. Dec. 8, 1863. 

Brainard S. Graves (William, Selah, Oliver, Nathaniel, 
John, Thomas), b. April 20, 1842, m. Dec. 14, 1860, Eliza 
M. Parker. She d. May 1, 1895. He m. (2), Feb. 1, 1900, Clara 
SkifT. He d. Jan. 16, 1914. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 297 

Children. 
Anna Maria, b. Oct. 27, 1866, m. Sept. 10, 1890, George S. Irvine. 
Jennie E., b. Nov. 30, 1867, d. Sept. 1, 1869. 
*VViLLiAM T., b. Apr. 6, 1869, m. Anna S. Batchelder. 
Charles N., b. Dec. U, 1870, d. Sept. 23, 1886. 
*Ed\vard B., b. May 21, 1872, m. Grace S. Lyman. 

William T. Graves (Brainard S., William, Selah, Oliver, 
Nathaniel, John, Thomas), b. April 6, 1869, m. June 5, 1895, 
Anna S. Batchelder. 

Children. 
Carl, b. Feb. 28, 1900. 
Lyman William, b. Dec. 15, 1907. 
Kenneth Batchelder, b. Jan. 13, 1910. 
Frederick, b. July 18, 1913. 

Edward B. Graves (Brainard S., William, Selah, Oliver, 
Nathaniel, John, Thomas), b. May 21, 1872, m. Dec. 21, 1893, 
Grace S. Lyman. She was b. Nov. 24, 1874. 

Children. 
Edna Winifred, b. Oct. 17, 189-1, m. Nov. 30, 1916, Ra> mond Boyden. 
Hazel, b. Aug. 23, 1898. 
Ph\xlis, b. Jan. 24, 1911. 



GUNN. Hon. Jasper Gunn was the immigrant ancestor of 
this family. He came to New England in the ship "Defense" 
in 1635. 

John Gunn (John, Samuel, Nathaniel, Jasper), b. Dec. 6, 

1739, m. Oct. 1, 1767, Jerusha Oakes. 

Children. 
Susanna, b. Aug. 7, 1768. 

Cynthia, b. Jan. 7, 1770, m. Jan. 30, 1788, Stephen Scott. 
Lucius, b. Jan. 20, 1772. 
William, b. Aug. 10, 1775. 

Levi Gunn (John, Samuel, Nathaniel, Jeisper), b. April 29, 
1757, m. May 1, 1788, Mary Jewett. He d. June 2, 1795. She 
d. April 5, 1840. 

Children. 
Caroline. 
*Levi, b. Dec. 28, 1792, m. Mrs. Delia (Dickinson) Gunn. 

Levi Gunn (Levi, John, Samuel, Nathaniel, Jasper), b. 
Dec. 28, 1792, m. Dec. 26, 1816, Mrs. Delia (Dickinson) Gunn. 
She d. Feb. 7, 1881. He d. July 18, 1862. 



298 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Caroline, b. Dec. 10, 1817, m. Alonzo Parker. 
Mary, b. in 1821, m. Horace Hubbard. 
Delia, b. Apr. 16, 1824, d. June 20, 1832. 

Eleanor, b. Nov. 25, 1825, m. May 23, 1855, Gurdon Edgarton. 
Fannie, b. Apr. 1, 1828, m. Nov. 17, 1852, Alvin C. Hitchcock. 
Levi J., b. June 2, 1830, m. Esther C. Graves, m. (2) Catherine A. Graves. 
Lyman, b. May 10, 1833, m. Lucy Perry. 



HAMILTON— HAMBLETON. James Hamilton, a native 
of Scotland and said to be the son of a clergyman, came to Bos- 
ton in 1716 with about one hundred other families. They were 
accompanied by their pastor, Rev. Robert Abercrombie. 

James Hamilton, b. in Scotland, m. there Rebecca . 

He d. in Worcester in 1735. 

Children. 
Thomas. 

*MiCHAEL, b. in Scotland, m. Forbush. 

John. 
Frances. 

Michael Hamilton (James), b. in Scotland, m. in Worces- 
ter, Forbush. 

Children. 
James, b. Worcester, m. Mary Knapp and Margaret Mahan. 
*Robert, b. Mar. 31, 1732, m. Margaret Conkey. 
Margaret, m. James OHver. 

Capt. Robert Hamilton (Michael, James), b. in Barre, 
Mass., March 2,\, 1732, m. Oct. 1, 1767, Margaret Conkey. 
Shed, in 1847. He d. in 1844. 

Children. 

Benjamin, b. Sept. 1, 1768, m. Electa . 

Micah, b. Mar. 26, 1770, m. Submit Bliss. -^ 
*WiLLiAM, b. Mar. 29, 1772, m. Rhoda Thwing. 
Alexander, b. Jan. 12, 1775, d. July 6, 1803. 
Patty, b. Mar. 15, 1777, d. Aug. 20, 1803. 
Robert, b. June 14, 1779, d. July 28, 1782. 
Rebecca, b. Jan. 6, 1782, m. Robert Webster, Jr. 
Polly, b. June 17, 1784, m. Josiah Rice. 
Robert, b. Oct. 4, 1786. 

*Washington, b. May 24, 1789, m. Clarissa Bartlett, Hannah Wells, and 
Theodosia (Boyden) Harwood. 

Dr. Wtlliam Hamilton (Robert, Michael, James), b. 
March 29, 1772, m. Feb. 25, 1796. Rhoda Thwing. She d. June 
6, 1832. He d. Sept. 27, 1810. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 299 

Children. 
Luther, b. Nov. 11, 1796, ni. Delia Williams. 
Elbridge Gerry, b. Sept. 7, 1799, d. Oct. 5, 1818. 
William, b. Jan. 12, 1802, ni. Louisa B. Johnson. 
Benjamin Franklin, b. F'eb. 18, 1809, ni. Hannah Gleason. 

Dr. Washington Hamilton (Robert, Michael, James), 
b. May 24, 1789, m. June 2, 1811, Clarissa Bartlett. She d. Feb. 
28, 1826. He m. (2) Aug., 1826, Hannah Wells. Shed. March 
9, 1838. He m. (3) Nov., 1838, Theodosia (Boyden) Harvvood. 
She d. July 18, 1868. He d. May 16, 1861. 

Children. 
^Erasmus Darwin, b. Dec. 18, 1811, m. Minerva Dickinson. 
William Cullen, b. Apr. 13, 1813, d. Nov. 19, 1835. 
*GoRHAM, b. July 14, 1815, m. Fidelia Childs and Elizabeth Mather. 
Lrcv, b. July 25, 1817, m. Henry Arms, Jr. 
*George Washington, b. Dec. 7, 1820, m. Lota Harding and Emma A. 

Bra man. 
Clarissa, b. Dec. 8, 1823, m. Dwight Boyden. 
Fannie, b. Feb. 24, 1826, m. Dwight Look. 
*Benjamin Russell, b. Jan. 31, 1829, m. Kate E. Bovden. He d. Nov. 27, 

1911. 
Alexander, b. Aug. 11, 1831, d. Aug. 4, 1852. 
Henry, b. July, 1833, d. Dec. 3, 1835. 
Martha A., b. July 13, 1836, d. Mar. 21, 1854. 

Dr. Erasmus Darwin Hamilton (Washington, Robert, 
Michael, James), b. Dec. 18, 1811, m. Jan. 15, 1834, Minerva 
Dickinson of Shelburne. He d. July 18, 1883. She d. Jan. 12, 
1892. 

Children. 
Caroline Dickinson, b. Mav 3, 1836, m. Oct. 8, 1856, William C. Aniidon. 

Shed. Oct. 11, 1912. 
William Cullen, b. June 12, 1839, m. Mary Pomeroy. 
Darwin P'reeman, b. Aug. 2, 1846, m. Julia Goddard. 
Cl.\ra a., b. Apr. 21, 1853, m. June 3, 1874, Arthur Cook. 

Gorham Hamilton (Washington, Robert, Michael, James) 
b. Julv 14, 1815, m. Nov. 27, 1837, Fidelia Childs. He m. (2) 
Elizabeth Mather. He d. Feb. 17, 1879. She d. Nov. 3, 1901. 

Children. 
Louisa Augusta, b. Sept. 11, 1838. 

*Edward William, b. Nov. 15, 1840, m. Ellen Crittenden. 
Fannie E., b. Dec. 25, 1852, m. William Bigelow. 
Fidelia C, b. Aug. 6, 1854, m. F>ed Tucker. 

EuwAKi) WiLT.LVM HAMILTON (Gorham, Washington, 
Robert, Michael, James), b. Nov. 15, 1840, m. Ellen L. Critten- 
den, Dec. 24, 1860. She d. Nov. 17, 1913. 



300 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Cora Belle, b. Oct. 11, 1861, m. (1) Irwin Field, m. (2) Edson S. Boutwell. 
Louisa Augusta, b. May 27, 1864, m. Roger C. Lawson. 
William Edward, b. Jan. 10, 1868, m. Ada Greenough. 
Frank Luther, b. Apr. 20, 1871, m. Lydia Esther Goodnow. 

George Washington Hamilton (Washington, Robert, 
Michael, James), b. Dec. 7, 1820, m. Lota Harding. She d. 
July 10, 1862. He m. (2) Emma A. Braman. He d. Feb. 10, 
1878. 

Children. 
*George Fred, b. Dec. 12, 1854, m. Mrs. Maria (Newhall) Briggs and (2) Mrs. 

Ellen Merrill. 
Fanme I., b. June 12, 1858. 
Flora J., b. June 12, 1858. 
Charles E., b. May, 1863, d. Sept. 14, 1863. 
John B., b. Aug., 1865, d. Sept. 3, 1866. 

George Fred Hamilton (George W., Washington, 
Robert, Michael, James), b. Dec. 12, 1854, m. Oct. 9, 1875, 
Maria (Newhall) Briggs. He m. (2) May 24, 1913, Mrs. Ellen 
L. Merrill. 

Children. 
Lota M., b. Sept. 4, 1876, m. Mar. 10, 1896, Herman Victor Hale. 

Benjamin Russell Hamilton (Washington, 'Robert, 
Michael, James), b. Jan. 31, 1829, m. Dec. 30, 1858, Kate E. 
Boyden. She d. Oct. 10, 1906. He d. Nov. 27, 1911. 

Children. 
Nellie Maud, b. Apr. 4, 1861, d. Oct. 1, 1861. 
William Alexander, b. Aug. 5, 1862, d. Nov. 23, 1868. 



HARDING. Abraham Harding came to America in 1638 
when he was admitted as an inhabitant at Dedham. He married 
his wife, Elizabeth, in Boston. He later moved to Medfield. 
At the latter place he erected a costly residence and d. in 1655, 
aged about forty years. 

Abiel Harding (Samuel, Samuel, Abraham, Abraham), 
b. Woodstock, Conn., Aug. 1, 1760, m. Aug. 14, 1786, Olive 
Smith. He d. in 1849. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
War. After the w,ar he settled in Conway where his children 
were born. 

Children. 
John, b. June 3, 1787. 
Sophia, b. July 26, 1789, m. Elisha Smith. 
Elijah, b. Oct. 30, 1790. 

Chester, b. Sept. 1, 1792, m. Caroline M. Woodruff. 
Horace. 
Dexter. 
Sophronia, b. May 14, 1799. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 301 

Abijah Harding (Samuel, Samuel, Abraham, Abraham), 
b. Woodstock, Conn. He m. Lydia Dickinson of Whately. She 
d. Aug. 31, 1808. He m. (2) Mar. 22, 1809, Elizabeth Scott. 
He d. March 3, 1844. She d. April 20, 1844. He was in the 
Rcxolutionary War. 

Children. 
Abijah, b. Jan. 9, 1787, m. Jane Clark. 
Esther, b. Feb. L3, 1790, ni. Jan. 7, 1840, Consider Dickinson. She was 

the founder of the Dickinson Academy and Free Library in Deerfield. 
*Lym.\n, b. Feb. 7, 1792, m. Sylvia Smith. 
JCLi.\, b. Dec. 23, 1793, d. unm. Nov. 8, 1869. 
St.\tir.\, b. Mar. 3, 1796, m. Dec. 3, 1840, Othniel Hannum. 
Parisatas, b. Mav 3, 1798, m. Nov. 20, 1820, Abel Scott of Whately. 
Electa, b. Mar. 26, 1800, m. Apr. 14, 1825, Caleb Dodge of Worthington. 
Lewis, b. May 20, 1804, d. 1888. 

Lyman Harding (Abijah, Samuel, Samuel, Abraham, 
Abraham), b. Feb. 7, 1792, m. April 28, 1819, Sylvia Smith of 
Sunderland. He d. July 18, 1868. She d. April 4, 1873. 

Children. 
Ruby E., b. Feb. 22, 1820, m. Oct. 19, 1845, Samuel P. Billings. 
Smith, b. Feb. 28, 1822, m. Eunice A. Tilton and Jennia A. McAnnully. 
Austin, b. June 6, 1824, d. May 27, 1850. 
Charles, b. Nov. 21, 1827, m. Julia Ferry and Elizabeth Vallintine. He was 

40 yrs. a missionary in Sholapur, India. 
Lota Jane, b. Mar. 12, 1829, m. Dec. 29, 1852, George W. Hamilton. 
Ouartus, b. Feb. 9, 1831, m. Susan Nash. 
Henry, b. Mar. 14, 1833, m. Amelia Conant. 

*Baxter, b. June 30, 1835, m. Philena Stearns and Martha J. Bridges. 
Sedgwick, b. June 30, 1838, m. Ella Bradford. 
Tyler, b. Dec. 30, 1840, m. Clara Louise Stearns. 

Baxter Harding (Lyman, Abijah, Samuel, Samuel, 
Abraham, Abraham), b. June 30, 1835, m. Jan. 24, 1866, Philena 
Stearns. She d. March 25, 1871. He m. (2) Oct. 1, 1873, 
Martha J. Bridges. He d. July 17, 1875. 

Children. 
Mary Elizabeth, b. Sept. 12, 1870, d. Sept. 30, 1870. 



HASSELL—HASSALL— HASSULL— HASEWELL. 
Richard was an early inhabitant at Cambridge. He was born in 
1622. His wife was Joanna. 

Children. 
Elizabeth, who married Joseph Wright. 
Joseph, m. Anna Perry. 
Esther, m. Obadiah Perry. 



302 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Benjamin Hassell (Jason, Benjamin, Joseph, Joseph, 
Richard,) b. Sept. 19, 1791, m. Feb. 3, 1826, Sarah Parker. She 
d. Dec. 3, 1861. He d. May 11, 1880. 

Children. 
Sarah, b. Feb. 18, 1829, m. Oct. 15, 1851, David Anderson. 
*GiLMAN P., b. Dec. 28, 1830, m. Sarah A. Robinson. 
Maria L., b. Dec. 15, 1832, m. Edward Delabarre. 
Martha A., b. Aug. 1, 1834, d. Aug., 1898. 
Joseph E., b. June 23, 1836, d. Jan. 18, 1904. 
Phoebe S., b. May 11, 1838, m. Otis Gibson. 
Appleton, b. Nov. 10, 1842, d. Dec. 28, 1865. 
*George a., b. Sept. 16, 1844, m. Louise Counter. 
Harriet E., b. Oct. 10, 1846, m. 1887, Augustus Chandler. 

Oilman P. Hassell (Benjamin, Jason, Benjamin, Joseph, 
Joseph, Richard), b. Dec. 28, 1830, m. Sarah A. Robinson. They 
both d. in 1897. 

Children. 
*Charles Lincoln, b. May 8, 1860, m. Nov. 24, 1881, Hattie Buckley. 
Cora, b. Aug. 8, 1864, d. Oct. 21, 1874. 
*Harry B., b. Nov. 8, 1869, m. Elizabeth Johnson. 

Charles Lincoln Hassell (Oilman, Benjamin, Jason, 
Benjamin, Joseph, Joseph, Richard), b. May 8, 1860, m. Nov. 24, 
1881, Hattie Buckley. 

Children. 
Cora, b. Sept. 1, 1882. 
Emma, b. Dec. 4, 1885. 

*Arthur, b. July 9, 1887, m. Florence Ames. 
Sarah, b. Oct. 31, 1891. 
Harriet, b. Aug. 13, 1903. 

Arthur Hassell (Charles, Oilman, Benjamin, Jason, 
Benjamin, Joseph, Joseph, Richard), b. July 9, 1887, m. Florence 
Ames of Elgin, 111. 

Children. 
Arthur Ames, b. Oct. 9, 1911. 
Faith, b. Dec. 21, 1912. 

Harry Benjamin Hassell (Oilman, Benjamin, Jason, 
Benjamin, Joseph, Joseph, Richard), b. Nov. 8, 1869, m. Nov. 
2, 1898, Elizabeth Johnson. 

Childreii. 
Stanley G., b. June 3, 1902. 
Dorothy W., b. July 18, 1905. 
Richard G., b. Apr. 23, 1909. 
Galen Hollis, b. Nov. 1, 1910. 

Oeorge a. Hassell (Benjamin, Jason, Benjamin, Joseph, 
Joseph, Richard), b. Sept. 16, 1844, m. Aug. 21, 1872, Louise 
Counter. 

Children. 
George, b. Aug. 2, 1874, ni. Nettie Hopkins. 
♦Clarence, b. May 23, 1876, m. Mary Delia Cook. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 305 

Clarence Hassell (George, Benjamin, Jason, Benjamin^ 
Joseph, Joseph, Richard), b. May 23, 1876, m. Mary Delia Cook. 

Children. 
Harold, b. Dec. 20, 1898. 



HAWKES. A. Carter Hawkes, b. in 1821, m. Louisa 
Gould. He d. in 1882. She d. in 1899. 

Children. 
Frederick C., b. Oct. 20, 1854, m. Cora Letson. He rl. Oct. 20, 1896. 
♦William E., b. Jan. 4, 1859, m. June 4, 1884, EUa A. Batchelder, ni. (2) Mrs. 

Flora (Bailey) Hardy. He d. Nov. 14, 1915. 

William E. Hawkes (A. Carter), b. Jan. 4, 1859, m. June 
4, 1884, Ella A. Batchelder. She d. Sept. 2, 1896. He m. (2) 
Oct. 6, 1903, Mrs. Elora (Bailey) Hardy. He d. Nov. 14, 1915. 

Children. 
Ella Louise, b. Oct. 12, 1887, d. in 1904. 



HILLM AN. John Hillman (Lot) , b. April 8, 1 786, m. Sept. 
11, 1810, Reliance Keves. She d. May 4, 1825. He d. Feb. 2, 
1858. 

Children. 
Phila C, b. Mar. 3, 1812, d. Aug. 4, 1835. 
Lyman J., b. Mar. 19, 1814, d. Nov. 23, 1866. 
Elizabeth, b. Jan. 19, 1816, d. Mar. 31, 1816. 
Calvin Keves, b. May 18, 1817, m. Marietta Bramun. 
Nancy Keyes, b. July 31, 1820, m. Thomas Hopkins. 
HoLLis E., b. Feb. 28, 1822, m. Malinda Collier. 
Sakepta, b. Dec. 3, 1827. 
Hervev, b. Nov. 15, 1829, d. June 25, 1832. 
Harriet Pease, b. Feb. 22, 1832, ni. Franklin Clapp. 
Mary Keyes, b. Nov. 22, 1834, m. Ebenezer C. Rogers. 



HOLCOMB. John S. Holcomb, b. Jan. 19, 1814, m. 
Aug. 10, 1842, Sophronia S. White. He d. May 13, 1898. She d. 
March 25, 1915. 

Children. 
Ellen E., b. Aug. 18, 1842, m. Oct. 4, 1865, J. Madison Stearns. 
Alice A., b. Jan 8, 1846, m. Oct. 11, 1865, George Austin Abell. 
*JoHN R., b. Nov. 13, 1847, m. May 29, 1872, Fannie E. Stearns. 
Janette, b. Aug. 22, 1850, d. Sept. 21, 1851. 
George C, b. June 30, 1852, m. June 12, 1878, E. Isabel Colburn, m. (2) 

Sept. 26, 1910, Mary A. Billings. 
Mary S., b. Sept. 23, 1854, m. Herbert Russ. 
*P'red, b. V&h. 28, 1857, ni. Anna Foote. 
Fr.\nk, b. Dec. 11, 1859, d. Julv 5, 1861. 
Willis, b. Dec. 27, 1861, d. May 13, 1895. 
Albert, b. Sept. 8, 1865. 



304 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

John R. Holcomb (John S.), b. Nov. 13, 1847, m. May 29, 
1872, Fannie E. Stearns. 

Children. 
Belle Frances, b. Sept. 26, 1875, m. Oct. 6, 1897, George G. Johnson. 

Fred Holcomb (John S.), b. Feb. 28, 1857, m. Dec. 30, 
1880, Anna Foote. 

Children. 
Mary White, b. June 21, 1887. 



HOPKINS. Seth Hopkins (Stephen, Joseph), b. in 
East Brewster, July 1, 1753, m. Mercv Rogers. She d. Oct. 6, 
1788. He d. April 26, 1841. ' ' 

Children. 
Thomas, b. Aug., 1778, d. unm. 1795. 

Mercy, b. Feb. 12, 1780, m. Wells. 

Betsey, b. Oct. 26, 1781, m. in 1818, Elisha H. Dix. 
Polly, b. Apr. 9, 1783, m. Asa Dickinson. 
*Reuben, b. Feb. 5, 1785, m. Lydia Bacon. 

Reuben Hopkins (Seth, Stephen, Joseph), b. Feb. 5, 
1785, m. Lydia Bacon. She d. March 6, 1850. He d. Oct. 10, 
1879. 

Children. 
Electa, b. Jan. 2, 1808, m. May 28, 1829, Justus Nims. 
Julia E., b. Sept. 17, 1810, d. June 19, 1873. 
*Thomas, b. Dec. 29, 1813, m. Nancy K. Hillman. 
Harriet Atwood, b. Oct. 10, 1816, m. David Crittenden. 
*AusTiN, b. Aug. 19, 1819, m. Hulda Susanna Truesdell. 
Elvira Mercy, b. May 26, 1823, m. George Rodney Smith. 

Thomas Hopkins (Reuben, Seth, Stephen, Joseph), b. 
Dec. 29, 1813, m. Nov. 30, 1843, Nancy K. Hillman. He d. 

Nov., 1888. 

Children. 
Charles. 
Edwin Alonzo, b. July 3, 1847, m. Roxanna . 

Austin Hopkins (Reuben, Seth, Stephen, Joseph), b. 
Aug. 19, 1819, m. June 4, 1846, Hulda Susanna Truesdell. She 
d. Dec. 30, 1892. He d. Nov. 3, 1906. 

Children. , 

Lewis Austin, b. June 23, 1847, d. Oct. 7, 1850. 
*Henry Wilder, b. Dec. 3, 1851, m. Mary Ann (Baker) Bigelow. 
George Lewis, b. Sept. 21, 1853, d. June 8, 1878. 

♦Lemuel Truesdell, b. May 8, 1859, m. Aug. 15, 1894, Lucy Maria Clarke. 
Fannie Louise, b. Jan. 19, 1862, m. Jan. 19, 1887, Frederick L. Wing. She 
d. June 17, 1916. He d. June 13, 1890. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 305 

Henry Wilder Hopkins (Austin, Reuben, Seth, Stephen, 
Joseph), b. Dec. 3, 1851, m. Sept. 23. 1874, Marv Ann (Baker) 
Bigelow. He d. March 31, 1900. She d. May 4, 1910. 

Children. 
Amy Bigelow, b. I\Lir. 17, 1875. 
Nettie Harriet, b. May 9, 1876, m. George Hassell. 
Anna Louisa, b. Apr. 14, 1879. 
George Henry, b. Feb. 6, 1883. 
Mary Calista, b. June 1, 1888, d. Aug. 22, 1912. 
Ruth Baker, b. Mar. 24, 1891. 
Raymond Austin, b. June 11, 1894, d. Apr. 27, 1895. 

Lemuel Truesdell Hopkins (Austin, Reuben, Seth, 
Stephen, Joseph), b. May 8, 1859, m. Aug. 15, 1894, Lucy Maria 
Clarke. 



ROWLAND. John Rowland, b. in England 1592, came 
with tiie Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620 and was the thirteenth 
who signed the contract on board the "Mayflower." He m. Eliza- 
beth Tilley. He d. Feb. 23, 1672. He was the last man that 
was left of those that came over in the "Mayflower." 

Job Rowland (John, John, John), b. Barnstable, June 17, 
1726, m. June 12, 1753, Hannah Jenkins. She d. Sept. 21, 1781. 
He d. Jan. 5, 1794. Most of the sons and grandsons of the daugh- 
ters of Job settled on Cape Cod and many of them became master 
mariners. All Job's sons moved away. 

Children. 
Mary, b. July 21, 1755, ni. Samuel Bassett. 
*JoHN HowLAND, b. Mar. 31, 1757, in. Grace Avery. 
Shove, b. Dec. 28, 1759, m. Elizabeth Hastings. 
Hannah, b. May 20, 1762, m. William Chipman. 
*JOB, b. July 24, 1764, m. Mary Fisher. 
Joanna, b. July 28, 1766, m. John Chipman. 
Benjamin, b. June 18, 1770, m. Hepsibah Hastings. 
Mehitable, b. June 23, 1773, m. Jan. 24, 1799, Heman Nye. 
*SouTHWORTH, b. Mar. 29, 1775, m. Esther Allen, m. (2) Polly Ware. 
Timothy, b. Sept. 17, 1777, m. Lydia Putnam. 

John Rowland (Job, John, John, John), b. Barnstable 
March 31, 1757, m. Jan. 6, 1786, Grace Avery. Re d. June 18, 
1843. She d. Jan. 12, 1841. Re settled in Conway, where he 
was a builder. 

Children. 
*AsA, b. Oct. 25, 1787, m. Phoebe Thompson and Mrs. Nancy Tilton. 
*John, b. June 8, 1789, m. Nancy Morton and Mrs. Olive (Hall) Bates. 
Grace, b. Oct. 29, 1791, m. May 17, 1825, Luther Thompson of Heath. 
*William Avery, b. Mar. 17, 1/94, m. Hannah Morton. 
Timothy Metcalf, b. May 14, 1796, d. Mar. 30, 1811. 



306 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Gen. Asa Rowland (John, Job, John, John, John), b. 
Oct. 25, 1787, m. Oct. 25, 1818, Phoebe Thompson of Heath. 
She d. April 11, 1860, and he m. (2) March 16, 1861, Mrs. Nancy 
A. Tilton. He d. June 29, 1870. She d. Jan. 9, 1882. 

John Howland (John, Job, John, John, John), b. June 8, 
1789, m. Jan. 6, 1816, Nancy Morton. She d. Jan. 2, 1859. He 
m. (2) Mrs. Olive (Hall) Bates. He d. Dec. 5, 1878. She d. 
March 1, 1871. John Howland was of the sixth generation of 
the John Howland who came in the "Mayflower." 

Children. 
Harriet Newell, b. June 24, 1817, d. May 31, 1840. 
Asa Allen, b. Feb. 8, 1820, m. Cornelia White Collins and Emma Lane. 
John Mills, b. May 5, 1822, m. 1848, Cornelia Woolworth. 
*Clark Morton, b. Mar. 20, 1824, m. Marietta M. Boyden and Abbie R. 

Bruce. 
DwiGHT, b. May 7, 1826, d. Mar. 2, 1862. 
Elizabeth, b. Sept. 19, 1828, d. Aug. 24, 1870. 
Charles Morton, b. Nov. 25, 1830, d. Oct. 10, 1853! 
Nancy Judson, b. Jan. 27, 1833, d. Feb. 20, 1852. 
Samuel Fisher, b. Aug. 21, 1835. 
Mary Morton, b. Mar. 18, 1839, d. Aug. 25, 1857. 

Clark Morton Howland (John, John, Job, John, John, 
John), b. March 20, 1824, m. Marietta Maria Boyden, Nov. 25, 
1852. She d. March 21, 1871. He m. (2) Abbie R. Bruce. 

Children. 
Charles Dwight, b. Jan. 4, 1854, d. Sept. 12, 1860. 
Hattie Clark, b. May 24, 1857, ni. July 28, 1880, Eugene F. Swan. 
Kate Boyden, b. Jan. 29, 1859, m. Thurlow S. Chandler. 
Emma Boyden, b. Nov. 30, 1860, m. Aug. 11, 1881, Anson F. Cobb. 
Mary Dwight, b. July 17, 1862, m. Apr. 9, 1887, Herbert N. Luey. 
Frederick, b. Apr. 18, 1864. 
John Frank, b. July 1, 1868. 
Herbert Russell, b. Mar., 1871, m. Luna Rice. 

William Avery Howland (John, Job, John, John, John), 
b. May 17, 1794, m. Dec. 9, 1819, Hannah Morton of Whately, 
She d. Aug. 30, 1875. He d. June 24, 1878. 

Children. 
Edward, b. June 28, 1821, ni. Electa Field and Mrs. S. Maria Farrell. 
William, b. Dec. 12, 1822, m. Carrie G. Russell. 
George, b. July 30, 1824. 

Henry, b. Mar. 29, 1827, m. Jane Eliza Gray. 
Allen, b. Jan. 20, 1832, d. Jan. 13, 1857. 
Eliza Sophia, b. Nov. 13, 1833, d. Aug. 30, 1836. 
Francis, b. June 11, 1836, d. Apr. 1, 1838. 
*Francis, b. Sept. 3, 1838, m. Vashti A. Tilton. 

Walter Morton, b. Julv 22, 1840, ni. Florence C. Reynolds, Mida D. Warne, 
and Anna J. Prettinian. He d. Oct. 22, 1911. 



FAMILY GENKALOGIES. 307 

Francis Howland (William A., John, Job, John, John, 
John), b. Sept. 3, 1838, m. Oct. 15, 1863, Vashti A. Tilton. She 
d. July 8, 1896. He owns and occupies the Howland Farm, 
purchased by his grandfather in 1786. 

Children. 
Eliza Agnes, b. Dec. 4, 1864. 

*George Fr.\ncis, b. Oct. 18, 1867, m. Kate I. Dickinson. 
Charlotte Ames, b. Oct. 18, 1871. 
Walter Morton, b. June 5, 1874, d. Apr. 25, 1875. 
Florence Reynolds, b. June 14, 1876. 

George Francis Howland (Francis, William A., John, 
Job, John, John, John), b. Oct. 18, 1867, m. Oct. 6, 1897, Kate 
Irene Dickinson. 

Children. 
K.\THERiNE Eleanor, b. Oct. 15, 1899. 
W'lLLARD Francis, b. Mar. 5, 1904. 
Julia Cl.\rk, b. Sept. 19, 1905. 
Walter AIorton, b. May 19, 1907. 
Priscilla R., b. Dec. 22, 1913. 

Job Howland (Job, John, John, John,), b. Barnstable, 
July 24, 1764, m. in Dedham, Nov. 29, 1792, Mary Fisher. He 
d. March 13, 1847. She d. April 23, 1849. 

Children. 
Katherine, b. Nov. 7, 1794, d. July 22, 1803. 
Otis, b. Nov. 15, 1796, d. July 25, 1843. 
Warren Shove, b. Aug. 31, 1798, m. Sarah Wood. 
Fisher, b. Dec. 10, 1800, d. Julv 18, 1803. 
Mary, b. Oct. 9, 1803, m. Oct. 'lO, 1848, Chester Crosset. 
Katherine, b. Dec. 29, 1805, m. Nov. 11, 1847, Charles 11. .Adams. 
Job Fisher, b. Apr. 26, 1808, m. Emily Alvord. 
Jonathan Otis, b. Apr. 22, 1810, m. Sarah Ann Denio and Elizabeth Farns- 

worth. 
Charles Jenkins, b. May 23, 1814, m. Lucinda H. Jones. 
William Milton, b. May 10, 1817, ni. Louisa Sophia Look. 

SoUTHWORTH HowLAND (Job, John, John, John), b. Barn- 
stable, March 29, 1775, m. Nov. 24, 1797, Esther Allen. She d. 
Oct. 12, 1814. He m. (2) March 13, 1816, Polly Ware. She d. 
Feb. 11, 1870. 

Children. 
Southworth a., b. Sept. 11, 1800, m. Esther Allen. 
Maria, b. Aug. 22, 1802, m. June 17, 1830, William Avery. 
H.vrriet, b. Mar. 18, 1806, m. Mar. 11, 1845, Hezekiah Perry. 
Louisa, b. Mar. 26, 1808, m. Apr. 9, 1839, Galen Carpenter. He d. July 3, 

1867. She m. (2) Apr. 5, 1870, Dr. Henry O. Adams. 
Henry J., b. Oct. 26, 1810, m. Hannah O. Bailey. 
Wn I iam Ware, b. Feb. 25, 1817, m. Susan Reed. 
Samuki., b. .Aug. 2, 1819, d. June 24, 1843. 
JosLi'H Avery, b. Feb. 19, 1821, m. Adeline Henshaw. 
Mary E., b. Aug. 28, 1823, m. Edward Smith. 
Elizabeth S., b. Apr. 3, 1826, m. Feb. 25, 1852, Rev. 11. D. Perrv. 



308 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Rev. William Ware Rowland (South worth, Job, John, 
John, John), b. Feb. 25, 1817, m. Oct. 14, 1835, Susan Reed. 
He d. in 1892. He served an apprenticeship in printing with 
G. & C. Merriam at Springfield and later graduated from 
Amherst College and Andover. Soon after his marriage he and 
his wife went as missionaries to Ceylon under the A.B.C.F.M. 
Forty-six years he resided in Ceylon, returning only once in that 
time to America. 

Children. 

William Southworth, b. July 8, 1846, in Jaffna, Ceylon, m. June 19, 1873, 

Mary Louisa Carpenter of Monson. 
Samuel Whittlesey, b. Mar. 4, 1848, in Ceylon, m. Apr. 29, 1873, Mary E. 

K. Richardson. 
Susan R., b. Nov. 15, 1849, res. in Ceylon. 
Edward Hitchcock, b. Apr. 15, 1851, in Ceylon, m. Sept. 22, 1877, Maria A. 

Phinney. She d. Apr. 12, 1900. He m. (2) Mar. 12, 1901, Nellie A. 

Wilder. She d. Dec. 1, 1905. He d. Apr. 11, 1905. 
John, b. Mar. 13, 1854, in Ceylon, ni. Aug. 9, 1882, Sara B. Chollar. 
Daniel Poor, b. in Conway, Nov. 7, 1856, d. here Aug. 14, 1858. 
Henry Martyn, b. in Conway, Dec. 21, 1858, m. in 1882, Elizabeth Perry. 
David Brainerd, b. in Conway, May 8, 1861, m. Emma Starkweather. 



JOHNSON. Gordon Hollis Johnson (Gordon, Obadiah),b. 
Windsor, July 28, 1842, m. Whately, Dec. 20, 1865, Hannah 
Arms Brown. 

Children. 

Fred, b. Nov. 12, 1866, d. Sept. 18, 1868. 

Elizabeth, b. Oct. 1, 1870, m. Nov. 2, 1898, Harry Benjamin Hassell. 

George CxOrdon, b. Oct. 15, 1874, m. Oct. 6, 1897, Belle Frances Holcomb. 

He d. Mar. 19, 1899. 
Winifred, b. Sept. 14, 1882, m. Arthur Reed. 



JONES. Ambrose Jones (Russell, Jehiel, Jabez, 
Thomas, Thomas), b. about 1800, m. Oct. 5, 1821, Anna Lover- 
idge. She d. Feb. 18, 1842. He m. (2) Nov. 28, 1844, Lucinda 
Chapman. She d. Nov. 1, 1849. He m. (3) Feb. 5, 1850, Mrs. 
Lucretia Jones. She d. Aug. 4, 1850. He m. (4) Sarah Stebbins. 
She d. Dec. 3, 1871. He d. Dec. 2, 1868. 

Children. 

Charlotte, b. Aug. 9, 1823, m. Orson B. Jones. 

Eliza Ann, b. Aug. 12, 1825, m. Salmon Chapman. 

Cynthia, b. Apr. 18, 1827. 

*Chauncey, b. 1831, m. Feb. 12, 1852, Cynthia Hunter. He m. (2) Nov. 25, 

1858, Lucretia Burnham. 
Albert R., b. Apr. 4, 1847, m. Susan Cantrell. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 309 

Chauncey Jones (Ambrose, Russell, Jehiel, Jabez, 
Thomas, Thomas), b. 1831, m. F'eb. 12, 1852, Cvnthia Hunter. 
He m. (2) Nov. 25, 1858, Lucretia Burnham. He d. Feb. 28, 
1882. Shed, in 1891. 

Children. 
Fannie, m. Charles E. F"ield. 

Martha A., b. 1860, m. May 5, 1880, Charles L. Mason. 
Edgar, b. Oct. 28, 1861, m. Myra Briggs. 
Chauncey. 
Clifford. 

Ira W. Jones, m. Clarissa Rice. He m. (2) April 6, 1848, 
Clarissa Stearns. 

Children. 
Emma C, b. 1844, m. Apr. 28, 1865, Hiram W. Collins. 
Mattie L., b. 1846, m. June 1, 1864, F" ranees Boyden. 
Mary, b. 1850, m. Aug. 24, 1876, Jacob Leucot. 



KEYES. Rev. Calvin Keyes (Stephen, Oliver, Elias, 
Elias, Robert), b. Lancaster, March 17, 1765, m. Feb. 22, 1785, 
Reliance Tolman, Deerfield. She d. Feb., 1850. He d. in 
Conway Sept. 15, 1843. 

Children. 
Calvin, b. Dec. 6, 1785, m. Jemima Hilman. 
Luther, b. Sept. 10, 1787, d. in infancy. 
Reliance, b. Aug. 11, 1788. 
Lydia, b. Mav 28, 1790. 
Phila, b. Apr. 22, 1792. 
Luther, b. July 9, 1795. 

Rhoda, b. May 10, 1796, m. George Barrows. 
*Joel, b. Aug. 11, 1798, m. Hannah L. Porter. 
Nancy, b. May 1, 1800, d. Sept. 23, 1876. 
Mary, b. Mar. 16, 1803, m. Mar. 16, 1829, Sylvester Childs. 
Almira, b. June 23, 1806, d. June 8, 1815. 
Clarissa, b. June 22, 1808, m. Dennis Childs. 

Joel Keyes (Calvin, Stephen, Oliver, Elieis, Elias, Robert). 
b. Aug. 11, 1798, m. April 26, 1827, Hannah L. Porter. She d. 
Sept. 16, 1876. He d. May 20, 1884. 

Childreyi. 
Sylvester \V., b. 1827, d. July 26, 1831. 
Miranda Jane, b. Sept. 18, 1828, d. young. 
Christopher C, b. Oct. 4, 1830, m. Sophronia Smith. 
*James p., b. July 2, 1832, m. Aug. 2?>, 1856, Jane E. .Abercrombie. 
Wealthy R., b. Mar. 31, 1834, ni. William Rhood. 
Miranda Jane, b. June 2, 1837, m. .Apr. 6, 1854, .\\\\n B. Stone. 
Viola, b. .Apr. 4, 1839, m. Rodnev Blodgett. 
*JoEL, b. Jan. 28, 1841, m. May 24, 1865, Sarah D. Brown. 
Fidelia H., b. June 12, 1844, m. Stephen Smith. 
*SiMEON P., b. Sept. 12, 1847, m. Frances Allen. 
Sylvester P., b. Nov. 12, 1849. 
William Dwight, b. Aug. 5, 1854. 



310 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

James P. Keyes (Joel, Calvin, Stephen, Oliver, Elias, 
Elias, Robert), b. July 2, 1832, m. Aug. 23, 1856, Jane E. Aber- 
crombie. 

Children. 
Frank P., b. July 5, 1857. 

Fred, b. Aug. 23, 1859, m. Mrs. Lucia Twining. 
Arthur A., b. Apr. 23, 1877. 

Joel Keyes, Jr. (Joel, Calvin, Stephen, Oliver, Elias, 
Elias, Robert), b. Jan. 28, 1841, m. May 24, 1865, Sarah D. 
Brown. He d. July 25, 1916. 

Children. 
John. 

Byron C, b. Auo. 2, 1879. 
Herbert F., b. June 19, 1884. 

Simeon P. Keyes (Joel, Calvin, Stephen, Oliver, Elias, 
Elias, Robert), b. Sept. 12, 1847, m. Julv 11, 1867, Frances A. 
Allen. He d. Jan. 4, 1910. 

Children. 
Allen. 
Darwin. 
Arthur. 
Adelbert W. 
Etta M. 
•Grace. 

William Keyes (Edward), b. Nov., 1832, Clonmel, Ire., 
m. Ellen Brazil, 1860. She d. Sept. 2, 1875. He d. March 26, 
1894. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Apr. 1, 1862, d. 1868. 
Ellen, b. Dec. 22, 1864, d. Dec. 24, 1874. 

Bridget Ellen, b. Sept. 20, 1866, ni. James Connelly, Jan. 4, 1890. 
William, b. July 9, 1868, d. infancy. 
Mary Agne.s, b. Manchester, la., Apr. 1, 1870. 
William Edward, b. Dec. 21, 1874, d. Sept. 17, 1875. 



LEE. Levi Lincoln Lee (Horatio, Joseph, Benjamin, 
Henry, Joseph, John), b. Oct. 9, 1827, m. June 4, 1855, Lucy 
Orinda Benson. She d. Nov. 23, 1915. He d. Nov. 24, 1904. 

They never had any children but adopted two. 

Children. 
Cora L., b. 1865, m. Mar. 30, 1886, William H. Bement. 
♦Herbert Russell, b. Mar. 1871, m. Aug. 12, 1895, Luna Rice. 

Herbert Russell Lee, b. March, 1871, m. Aug. 12, 1895, 
Luna Rice. 

Children. 
JVIerton, b. Feb. 2, 1899. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 311 

Dennis Lee (Eber, Eber, Benjamin, Henry, Joseph, 
John), b. Mav 15, 1819, m. Sept. 15, 1840, Cordelia Boyden. 
She d. Sept. 4, 1849. He m. (2) Mar. 10, 1853, Ruth Maria 
PhiUips. He d. Sept. 2, 1864, and is buried at Arlington, D. C. 
Shed. July 28, 1889. 

Children. 
Laura May, b. Dec. 10, 1841, m. July 23, 1862, Myron Dickinson. 
Mary Lutheria, b. Mar. 14, 1843, m. Jan. 16, 1860, George Truesdell. 
Lucy Jane, b. June 8, 1845, d. June 25, 1846. 
WiLLARD, b. Apr. 2, 1847. 

*George Clifford, b. Dec. 26, 1855, m. Mary Augusta Dole. 
Frank Wh.bur, b. Mar. 23, 1857. 
Captain Eber, b. Ot. 10, 1858. 
Nettie Isador, b. Jan. 31, 1860, ni. Feb. 16, 1881, Ahiion B. Eddy. 

George Clifford Lee (Dennis, Eber, Eber, Benjamin, 
Henry, Joseph, John), b. Dec. 26, 1855, m. May 21, 1879, Mary 
Augusta Dole. 

Children. 
Edgar Phillips, b. Apr. 11, 1882. 
Levi Dole, b. Oct. 6, 1883. 

Au.sTiN Lee (Eber, Eber, Benjamin, Henry, Joseph, 
John), b. April 13, 1811, m. Submit Stebbins. She d. Sept. 16, 
1840. He m. (2) Dorothy Beales. He d. March 4, 1861. She 
d. in 1878. 

Children. 
Clarissa, b. June 2, 1838, m. George Taintor. 
Frank, b. July 2, 1842. 
*Henry, b. Jan. 2, 1847, m. Ella N. Rice. 
Emery, b. June, 1849, m. Feb. 17, 1875, .■\ddie A. Phelps. 

Henry Lee (Austin, Eber, Eber, Benjamin, Henry, 
Joseph, John), b. Jan. 2, 1847, m. Ella N. Rice. 

Children . 
Mary Louisa, b. July 23, 1889. 
Charles Clough, b. June 24, 1891. 
Frederick, b. 1898. 



LOOK. Peter Look, Jr. (Peter, Noah, James, Thomas, 
Thomas), b. Aug. 5, 1785, m. Sophia Healey. She d. June 12, 
1834. He d. Nov. 5, 1830. 

Children. 
Mary Healey, b. Mar. 19, 1809. 
Lovina, b. Sept. 11, 1810. 

Harvey Dix, b. Sept. 7, 1812, m. Althena Munson. 
Louisa Sophia, b. Nov. 4, 1816, m. Oct. 10, 1843, William H. Howland. 
Joseph Allen, b. Apr. 22, 1818, ni. Alvira P. Wrisley. 
DwiGHT B., b. Apr. 19, 1820, ni. Fannie A. Hamilton and Emily Newhall. 
Editha, b. Aug. 29, 1824, d. in 1880. 



312 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

MANNING. John Manning (Edward), b. in Ireland, 
1841, m. Jane Carmody. 

Children. 
John, b. 1871. 
Edward, b. 1873. 
William, b. 1877. 
Frederick, b. 1878. 
Anna, b. 1880. 
Agnes, b. 1882. 
Daniel, b. 1887. 



MAYNARD. Hon. Malachi Maynard, b. Westboro, 1746, 

m. Elizabeth . He m. (2) Feb. 22, 1876, Anna Hale. He 

was town treasurer for twenty-six years, and a representative 
in the Legislature three terms. He d. Feb. 29, 1824. She d. 
May 9, 1825. 

Ciiildren. 

Elizabeth, b. Mar. 16, 1777, m. Porter. 

William Hale, b. Nov. 23, 1786. Was a lawyer in New York. 
Anna Ta\tlor, b. June 7, 1788, d. Mar. 14, 1851. 
Lydia, b. Mar. 3, 1790, m. Dec. 27, 1818, Zelotus Bates. 

Oliver, b. June 13, 1792, m. Electa . 

Lucy, b. Dec. 24, 1796, d. Apr. 24, 1876. 



MEEKINS. Truman Meekins (Joseph, Thomas, .John, 
Thomas, Thomas), b. Williamsburg, Aug, 20, 1804, m. Nov. 25, 
1825, Polly Packard. She d. June 16, 1871. He d. Dec. 27, 
1880. 

Children. 
Lucius, b. June 30, 1826, m. Lucy A. Sanderson and Mrs. Florence A. Dickin- 
son. 
Truman, m. Harriet Williams. 

LuTHERA, b. July 25, 1833, m. June 6, 1855, Milo L. Smith. 
Emery, b. Nov. 10, 1837, m. Sarah Parsons. 
Emily, b. Nov. 10, 1837, m. Jan. 3, 1860, Rev. William Frederick Arms. 



MERRITT. The Conway branch is of English ancestry and 
the family to which they belong is descended from two brothers, 
who came to this country in 1638, one of whom settled in Massa- 
chusetts and the other in New York. 

Asa Merritt, b. Broomfield and m. Anna . She d. 

June 21, 1821. He was drowned in Cohoes, N. Y., in 1838. 

Children. 
*Simeon, b. July 17, 1762, m. Pamelia Baker. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 313 

Simeon Merritt (Asa), b. July 17, 1762, m. Xov. 14, 1792, 
Pamelia Baker. He d. Jan. 29, 1829. She d. July 1, 1843. 

Children. 
*Pliny, b. Jan. 19, 1794, in. Sophia Bovden. 
Sar.^h, b. Sept. 8, 1796, m. Joel Wells. ' 
Pameli.\, b. Apr. 15, 1800, d. Dec. 16, 1854. 
LUCRETIA, b. Mar. 18, 1804, d. Nov. 1, 1872. 
Clarissa, b. Apr. 24, 1806, d. Apr. 11, 1879. 

Capt. Pliny Merritt (Simeon, Asa), b. Jan. 19, 1794, m. 
Oct. 14, 1819, Sophia Boyden. She d. Feb. 19, 1867. He d. 
Oct. 15, 1863. 

Children. 
*Charles Baker, b. Mar. 3, 1823, m. Mary A. Stearns. 

Charles Baker Merritt (Plinv, Simeon, Asa), b. March 
3, 1823, m. Nov. 26, 1857, Mary A. Stearns. He d. April 29, 
1899. Shed. April 1, 1906. 

Children. 
Ella E., b. Jan. 14, 1859, m. Oct. 24, 1887, Charles F. Elmer. 

MORSE. Eliphaz Morse, m. Sally . He d. in 1862. 

Children. 
Lucy A., b. July 12, 1830, m. June 29, 1848, Benjamin Wells. 
Sarah S., m. Bosworth. 



NASH. James Nash was the first comer to this country in 
1628. His son, Thomas, was of New Haven, Conn., in 1640. 

Elijah Nash (John, Thomas, Thomas, Lieut. Timothy, 
Thomas), b. Williamsburg, June 12, 1772, m. Feb. 14, 1796, 
Paulina Warner. Rem. to Conway and he d. here Jan. 2, 1855. 
She d. Oct. 9, 1855. 

Children. 
W^E.\LTHY, b. Feb. 8, 1797, m. May 31, 1821, Solomon L. Russell. 
John Adams, b. Sept. 8, 1798, m. Mary M. Clark. 
Laura, b. May 10, 1800, d. Sept. 5, 1803. 
Fidelia, b. Nov. 23, 1801, d. July 4, 1803. ^'■ 

Laura, b. Sept. 10, 1803, m. Oliver Field. ,-•' 
Fidelia, b. Feb. 5, 1806, m. John F~ield. 

Minerva Sheldon, b. Apr. 11, 1808, m. June 1, 1836, Rev. Henry E. Eastman. 
Joseph, b. Sept. 14, 1810, d. Oct. 29, 1824. 

NELSON. Philip Nelson came from England in 1636, 
graduated from Harvard College in 1664. 

Jeremiah Nelson (Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Joseph, Philip), 
b. in 1767, m. Sarah Spencer. He d. June 2, 1846. She d. Dec. 
12, 1853. 



314 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children . 
Sarah, m. May 2, 1816, Lesley Kent. 
Socrates, m. Dorothy Boyden. 
ICHABOD, m. May 30, 1832, Eliza Arms. 
*CoLUMBUS, b. Aug. 22, 1803, m. Louisa Boyden and Lucinda Williams. 

Columbus Nelson (Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Joseph 
PhiUp), b. Suffield, Conn., Aug. 22, 1803, m. Conway, Dec. 
25, 1827, Louisa Boyden. She d. July 8, 1848. He m. (2) Nov. 
19, 1851, Lucinda WilHams. She d. April 4, 1852. He d. Dec. 
11, 1886. 

Children. 
Lorenzo Willard, b. June 17, 1830, m. June, 1855, Marcia Sophia Redfield. 
Elizabeth Amelia, b. June 2, 1834, m. Feb. 14, 1855, Charles Williams. 
Helen Sophia, b. Dec. 3, .1837, m. Oct. 23, 1866, George H. Robbins. 
Anna Louisa, b. Sept. 5, 1840. 

Margaret Viola, b. Sept. 19, 1843, m. Oct. 31, 1872, Norton M. Redfield. 
Christopher Columbus, b. June 19, 1846, d. Mar. 1, 1.872. 
Eugene Clarence, b. June 28, 1848, d. Mar. 4, 1880. 



NEWHALL— NEW ALL— NEWELL. The earliest reference 
to the name is to one Thomas Newhall, whose will was written 
in Latin in 1498 and proved in 1499. Thomas Newhall was of 
Lynn in 1630. He had several children and Thomas, Jr., was the 
first white child born there in 1630. The Newhalls have always 
been innholders. The second tavern in Conway was kept by Col. 
Jabez Newhall. 

Daniel Newhall (Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas), 
b. at Maiden, Dec. 12, 1707, m. Dec. 26, 1728, Tabitha Upham. 

Children. 

Tabitha, b. Sept. 28, 1730, m. Aug. 9, 1750, Benjamin Garfield. 

*Daniel, b. 1734, m. Elizabeth Stebbins. 

Elizabeth, b. Dec. 15, 1737, m. Jan. 7, 1760, Stephen Proctor of Danvers. 

Phineas, b. Sept. 28, 1742, m. Sept. 21, 1763, Lydia Wilson. 

*Samuel, b. Aug. 15, 1744, m. Anna Reed of Conway. 

*Jabez, b. Dec, 1746, m. Lydia Shaw. 

Daniel Newhall (Daniel, Daniel Thomas, Thomas, 
Thomas), b. Leicester, 1734, m. April 17, 1755, Elizabeth Steb- 
bins. 

Children. 
James, b. 1756. 
Sarah, b. 1757. 

*Daniel, b. July 5, 1760, m. Lovina Baker. 
John, b. Dec. 11, 1762, m. Beulah Stearns. 
Elizabeth, b. June 20, 1765, m. Samuel Abbey. 
Jabez, b. May 20, 1767. 
Mai(y, b. Nov. 28, 1768, m. Asa Frary. 
Olive, b. May 5, 1771. 
RuFUS, b. Mar. 31, 1773. 
Luther, b. Sept. 13, 1779. 



P^AMILY GKNEALOGIES. 315 

Daniel Newtiall (Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, 
Thonuis, Thomas), b. July 5, 1760, in Leicester, m. Jan. 29, 1784, 
Lovina Baker. 

Childreyi. 
Orrin, b. Nov. 8, 1787. 
Daniel, b. July 26, 1791, m. Harriet Whitney. 

LoRiNDA, b. Nov. 19, 1793, in. Grover. 

Polly, b. Aug. 19, 1796, m. Chester Benient. 

Lovina Ann, b. Sept. 4, 1798, m. Hendricks. 

Elishet, m. Hendricks. 

Sarah B., b. Apr. 1806, m. Franklin Siowe. 

Samuel Newhall (Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, 
Thomas), b. Leicester, Aug. 15, 1744; m. Anna Reed of Conway. 

Children. 
Esther, b. Dec. 1, 1770; d. Oct. 18, 1818. 
Sally, b. Feb. 28, 1772. 
Samuel, b. April 22, 1774; d. Mar. 30, 1814. 
Phinkhas, b. Julv 18, 1776; m. Wealthy W. Newcomb. 
*James, b. Aug. 23, 1778; m. Sophia Burt. 
Relief, b. Nov. 15, 1780. 

Naihan, b. June 4, 1783; m. Greaty Bardwell. 
♦David, b. Mar. 29, 1788; m. Hadassah Moran. 

James Newhall (Samuel, Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, 
Thomas, Thomas), b. Aug. 23, 1778, m. Aug. 31, 1802, Sophia 
Burt. He d. Aug. 25, 1862. She d. Aug. 18, 1871. 

Children. 



*AusTiN, b. June 3, 1803, ni. Abigail 

Arzealia, b. Sept. 24, 1804, ni. Stebbins. 

Ezra Tobey, b. Oct. 3, 1808, d. Aug. 24, 1836. 

Austin Newhall (James, Samuel, Daniel, Daniel, 
ThonKis, Thomas, Thomas), b. June 3, 1803, m. Feb. 15, 1829, 
Abigail Briggs. He d. Jan. 2, 1866. She d. Aug. 16, 1882. 

Children. 
Israel Briggs, b. Sept. 30, 1835, d. Sept. 3, 1863. 

♦Joseph Allen, b. Feb. 1 1, 1838, m. Sarah L. Cady and Kathcrine N. Yeomans. 
Sinai AIjba, b. Sept. 2, 1840, d. Oct. 13, 1870. 
Arzealia Maria, b. July 9, 1843, d. June 3, 1845. 
Arzealia Maria, b. May 12, 1846, m. E- S. Briggs and G. Fred Hamilton. 

Joseph Allen Newhall (Austin, James, Samuel, Daniel, 
Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas), b. Feb. 11, 1838, m. Sept. 
30, 1863, Sarah L. Cady. She d. Sept. 26, 1869. He m. (2) 
Oct. 12, 1870, Katherine N. Yeomans. She d. June 2, 1898. 

Children. 
Merton Allen, b. June 10, 1866, m. Lottie Hollingsworth. 
Elias Smith, b. Aug. 16, 1871, d. June 12, 1886. 
♦Austin Jackson, b. June 3, 1874, m. Maud L. Clark. 



316 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Austin Jackson Newhall (Joseph A., Austin, James, 
Samuel, Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas), b. June 3, 
1874, m. Oct. 26, 1897, Maud Lena Clark. He d. Nov. 14, 
1907. 

Children. 
Evelyn Viola, b. Sept. 28, 1899. 
Burt Elias, b. Aug. 7, 1902. 

David Newhall (Samuel, Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, 
Thomas), b. March 29, 1788, m. Hadassah Moran. He d. Jan. 
7, 1864. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Apr. 19, 1819. 

Delia, b. Jan. 1, 1822, ni. Joseph M. Pulsifer. 
Richard, b. Aug. 10, 1825, d. July 28, 1831. 
Amelia, b. Nov. 24, 1834. 

Lieut. Jabez Newhall (Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, 
Thomas), b. Dec. 1746, m. May 5, 1768, Lydia Shaw. She d. 
Mayl, 1835. He d. May 28, 1835. 

Children. 
Tabitha, b. Jan. 20, 1769, m. Jan. 16, 1795, Noah Dickinson. 
Bethia, b. Apr. 14, 1771, m. Mar. 10, 1796, Daniel Rice. 
*Jabez, b. Feb. 29, 1777, m. Sally Stearns and Mrs. Eunice L. Tilton. 
Lydia, b. Aug. 11, 1779, m. Joel Bardwell. 
Dorothy, b. Sept. 7, 1782, m. Timothy Rice. 
LuciNDA, b. Jan. 1, 1787, m. Zeeb Wells. 

Col. Jabez Newhall (Jabez, Daniel, Daniel, Thomas, 
Thomas, Thomas), b. Feb. 29, 1777, m. Sally Stearns. She d. 
June 14, 1820. He m. (2) Mrs. Eunice (Livermore) Tilton. 
He d. April 2, 1858. She d. March 27, 1871. 

Children. 
Sarah Stearns, b. Nov. 12, 1822, m. Nov. 7, 1849, Henry Clary. 
*Jabez Clinton, b. Aug. 12, 1825, m. Adeline Parsons. 
Emily, b. Oct. 5, 1827, m. June 18, 1850, Dwight B. Look. 

Jabez Clinton Newhall (Col. Jabez, Jabez, Daniel, 
Daniel, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas), b. Aug. 12, 1825, m. May, 
25, 1854, Adehne Parsons. He d. Nov. 27, 1901. She d. Dec. 
16, 1904. 

Children. 
Eunice L., b. Mar. 20, 1857, d. June 12, 1914. 
Ruth L, b. Oct. 23, 1862. 

Anna B., b. June 12, 1865, m. Francis Willard Boyden. 
Harry Tilton, b. Jan. 6, 1869, m. Nov. 14, 1894, Rose Estella Abell. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 317 

NIMS. Justus Nims (Israel, Jeremiah, John, Godfrey), 
b. Nov. 11, 1802, m. May 28, 1829, Electa Hopkins. Shed. 
June 30, 1892. He d. June 2, 1871. 

Children. 
Israel Barnard, b. Oct. 21, 1830, d. Apr. 23, 1851. 
Edward Everett, b. June 22, 1832, d. Mar. 23, 1855. 
Adeline Philena, b. May 2, 1835, m. June 17, 1857, Edward M. Stearns. 
Pliny Fisk, b. Sept. 3, 1838, ni. M. Antoinette Goss. 
Harriet E., b. Apr. 25, 1845, ni. Apr. 22, 1879, Calvin B. Kingsley. 
Ellen E., b. Sept. 16, 1849, ni. Feb. 7, 1870, James A. Cox. 



NYE. Calvin E. Nye, b. 1822, m. Elizabeth E. Pease. 
Hed. Oct. 21, 1833. 

Children. 
Caroline, b. 1829, m. Nov. 19, 1879, Thomas Packard. 
*Henrv, b. July 23, 1836, m. Eliza Farnsworth. 
Theresa, b. 1838, d. Sept. 21, 1851. 
Emma L., b. 1842, d. Sept. 20, 1851. 
Homer, b. 1845, d. Sept. 29, 1851. 

Henry Nye, b. July 23, 1836, m. June 6, 1862, Eliza A. 
Farnsworth. He d. Feb. 7, 1905. 

Children. 
George H., b. Oct. 25, 1864, m. Jan. 3, 1889, Mattie P. Brown. She d. Apr. 
23, 1890. 



ORCUTT. Walter Orcutt (Stephen, Stephen, Ichabod, 
Josei)h. William) b. May 7, 1799, m. Ann EHza Blachford. He 
d. March 1, 1854. 

Children. 
Miriam F., m. William Baker. 

*Eleazer F., b. Nov. 1, 1825, m. Lydia Ann Graves. 
Carrie E., m. Alvin Warner. 

li^LEAZER F. Orcutt (Walter, Stephen, Stephen, Ichabod, 
Joseph, William), b. Nov. 1, 1825, m. Dec. 12, 1850, Lydia Ann 
Graves. He d. Oct. 25, 1889. 

Children. 
William Baker, b. Jan. 11, 1852, m. Mary E. Kingsley. 
Walter Eleazer, b. Apr. 15, 1855, ni. Lizzie Ellen Hubbard. 
Anna Eliza, b. July 15, 1865, m. Ryland C. Howes. 
Ella Louise, b. Oct. 4, 1871, m. George A. Elder. 



PACKARD. Bradley Packard (Joseph, Timothy, Jo- 
seph, Joseph, John, Samuel), b. June 23, 1808, m. Dec. 2, 1831, 
Mary W^ebster. She d. June 2, 1860. He d. March 5, 1881. 



318 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Frances Submit, b. June 23, 1833, m. Nov. 23, 1858, Giles W. Barney. 
*JoHN Bond, b. Feb. 22, 1837, m. Seviah Footeand Mrs. Augusta M. Newton. 
Elvira E., b. Aug. 16, 1839, m. Apr. 5, 1871, William C. Howes. 
AzEL A., b. Sept. 22, 1849, m. Mary Villes. 

John Bond Packard (Bradley, Joseph, Timothy, Joseph, 
Joseph, John, Samuel), b. Feb. 22, 1837, m. March 22, 1864, 
Seviah E. Foote. She d. May 21, 1872. Hem. (2) Oct. 8, 1874, 
Mrs. Augusta M. Newton. 

Children. 
Willie Bradley, b. Jan. 21, 1865, d. Aug. 28, 1865. 



PAGE. One of the earliest emigrants in this country by 
this name was John Page and his wife Phoebe. He was born 
in England in 1586, came from Dedham, Eng., in 1630. 

Timothy Page (Timothy), b. in 1700, m. Nov. 27, 1722, 
Thankful Doolittle. 

Children. 
Timothy, b. June 29, 1728. 
Thankful, b. Mar. 27, 1730. 
Sar.\h, b. Mar. 6, 1732. 
Susanna, b. May 4, 1734. 
Asa, b. Dec. 21, 1735. 
David, b. May 11, 1738. 
*Theopolis, b. Aug. 18, 1740, m. Mabel Merriman, m. (2) Rebecca Look. 

Theopolis Page (Timothy, Timothy), b. Wallingford, 
Conn., Aug. 18, 1740, m. 1773, Mabel Merriman. She d. Oct. 
8, 1785. He m. (2) April 6, 1786. Rebecca Look. She d. Nov. 
23, 1827. He d. March 27, 1824. He came to Conway and pur- 
chased 75 acres of land which constituted the basis of the Page 
farm in Broomshire. This deed was given in the reign of George 
HI, Aug. 14, 1774. 

Children. 
Nathaniel, b. Dec. 6, 1774, d. Oct. 29, 1778. 
Phineas, b. Nov. 18, 1776, m. Lynthia Macomber. 
*Levi, b. Jan. 14, 1779, m. Patty Gould. 
Nathaniel, b. May 24, 1781, m. Prudence Allen. 
Joel, b. Oct. 31, 1784. 
Elijah, m. Nancy Field. 
Betsey, b. June 26, 1791, m. Oct. 10, 1819, Lucius Bliss Wing. 

Levi Page (Theopolis, Timothy, Timothy), b. Jan. 14, 
1779, m. Jan. 25, 1815, Patty Gould of Lyme, Conn. She d. 
Sept. 18, 1878. He d. Feb. 1, 1855. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 319 

Children. 
Elizabeth, b. Apr. 27, 1816, d. Oct. 3, 1817. 

Nancy Field, b. Oct. 15, 1818, m. Oct. 12, 1840, Jonathan Lyman Root. 
*Levi, b. Jan. 21, 1821, m. Rhoda Maria Fisk. 
*Elijah, b. Aug. 26, 1823, m. Kezia Foster Bardwell. 
Martha Ann, b. Oct. 16, 1826, m. Oct. 25, 1853, John Reniele. 

Levi Page (Levi, Theopolis, Timothv, Timothy), b. Jan. 
21,182L m. Nov., 1848, Rhoda Maria Fisk. ' He d. Jan. 15, 1891. 
Shed. 1901. 

Cliildreu. 
Sarah Elizabeth, b. May 25, 1850, m. Feb. 14, 1877, John W. Tilton. 
Levi, b. Nov. 8, 1857, d. Jan. 20, 1877. 
Harlan, b. Feb. 12, 1863, m. Marv Y. Ferris. 
James Fisk, b. Jan. 17, 1868, ni. Dec. 31, 1892, Dora French. 

Elijah Pa(;e (Levi, TheopoHs, Timothv, Timothy), b. 
Aug. 26, 1823, m. Nov. 6, 1849, Kezia Foster Bardwell. He d. 
May 4, 1890. She d. May 3, 1907. 

Children. 
*Joel Bardwell, b. Sept. 5, 1850, ni. Mary E. Hubbard and Clara A. 

Bradford. 
Alice Gould, b. Nov. 3, 1852, m. Sept. 3, 1881, Ezra Bonny Vining. 
Lyman Root, b. Aug. 25, 1855, d. June 26, 1857. 
M.\TTiE Georgiana, b. Apr. 23, 1860, m. July 24, 1882, Homer Cooley. 

Joel Bardwell Page (Elijah, Levi, Theopolis, Timothy^ 
Timothy), b. Sept. 5, 1850, m. Meirch 17, 1874, Mary E. Hubbard. 
She d. June 12, 1882. He m. (2) March 28, 1883, Clara A. Brad- 
ford. He d. 1902. She d. 1903. 

Children. 
Lyman R., b. Mar. 30, 1875, d. Oct. 4, 1876. 
Wilbur Hubbard, b. Sept. 16, 1876, d. Oct. 9, 1891. 
Eleanor P., b. May 13, 1886, d. July 24, 1891. 
Harry B., b. Feb. 18, 1889, d. Apr. 3, 1890. 
Hettie, b. Feb. 18, 1889, d. Apr. 17, 1891. 
Robert Blake, b. Aug. 26, 1891, d. Feb. 11, 1915. 



PARKER. James Parker (James, Nathaniel, Nathan- 
iel, Isaac, Jo.seph, James), b. Nov. 3, 1810, m. 1837, Lucy Rice. 
She d. Dec. 25, 1847. He m. (2) Aug. 16, 1853, Lucy Jane Steele. 
He d. Dec. 20, 1863. She d. Jan. 12, 1901. 

Children. 
Charles Wing, b. Oct. 23, 1839, m. Emma A. Hastings. 
Eliza Maria, b. Mar. 9, 1845, m. Dec. 14, 1865, Brainard S. Graves. 
William Avery, b. Mar. 30, 1855. 
*James Frederick, b. Apr. 17, 1858, m. Hattie A. Newton. 



320 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

James Frederick Parker (James, James, Nathaniel, 
Nathaniel, Isaac, Joseph, James), b. April 17, 1858, m. May 9, 
1890, Hattie A. Newton. 

Children. 
John Harold, b. May 22, 1891. 
Myrtle, b. 1895, m. Mar. 7, 1916, Renfrew Nye. 
Eugene Hunt, b. Jan. 30, 1901. 



PARSONS. The name of Colonel Joseph Parsons first 
appears in the records of Springfield in 1642. His oldest son, 
Benjamin, had seven children. Benjamin's oldest son, Samuel, 
settled in Enfield, Conn. Samuel's youngest son was Nathaniel, 
whose youngest son was Chadwell and his second son was the 
first settler of this name in Conway. 

a. . / 

Joel Parsons (Chadwell, Nathaniel, Samuel, Benjamin, 
Joseph-), b. Somers, Conn., Jan. 28, 1753, m. July 31, 1775, 
Tryphena Booth. He d. here Aug. 9, 1831. 

Children. 
Joel, b. Mar. 31, 1778. 
Levi, B. July 9, 1780, m. Philinda Warren. 
LuCY.'b. Aug. 3, 1782, m. Oct., 1804, Asahel Lyman. 

Laura, b. July 5, 1787, m. Apr. 7, 1808, George Root. i c 

William, b. July 7, 1789, m. Silence Macomber. . - -^i- /f/ ^ , /T^l) 

Myra, b. Nov. 22, 1792, m. Camillus Chapin. - ^2, Off -* tU.>Jf^^y 

Lois, b. Mar. 8, 1795, m. Feb. 22, 1827, Capt. Otis Childs. 
*Charles, b. June 22, 1798, m. Sylvia Boyden. 

Captain Charles Parsons (Joel, Chadwell, Nathaniel, 
Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph), b. June 22, 1798, m. Oct. 30, 1823, 
Sylvia Boyden. She d. Aug. 9, 1876. He d. May 14, 1889. 

Children. 
Adeline, b. Dec. 29, 1826, m. Jabez C. Newhall. 
Nancy, b. Sept. 29, 1828, m. June 4, 1851, Gurdon Edgerton. 
Tryphena, b. Dec. 28, 1831, d. Mav 21, 1858. 
Charles Lyman, b. Sept. 2, 1836, d; Oct. 9, 1836. 
*Charles, b. Apr. 2, 1839, m. Helen A. Wickham. 

Charles Parsons, Jr. (Charles, Joel, Chadwell, 
Nathaniel, Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph), b. April 2, 1839, m. 
Oct. 29, 1861, Helen A. Wickham. 

Children. 
Minnie A., b. Aug. 13, 1864. 

*Charles Lyman, b. Feb. 10, 1868, m. Laura Wilson Wing. 
Lizzie, b. July 18, 1871, d. Nov. 5, 1890. 
Lois, b. Mar. 1, 1874. 
Sylvia, b. Apr. 2, 1877, m. Aug. 21, 1906, Darwin Sanderson 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 321 

Charles Lyman Parsons (Charles, Jr., Charles, Joel, 
Chadwell, Nathaniel, Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph), b. Feb. 10, 
1868, m. Oct. 18, 1893, Laura Wilson Wing. 

Children. 
Charles Edward, b. Nov. 22, 1894. 
Howard, b. Mar. 28, 1902. 
Sidney, b. Mar. 6, 1905. 



PATRICK. Frederick E. Patrick (Ebenezer, Matthew, 
Thomas), b. Stillwater, N. Y., Feb. 17, 1807, m. Hoosick Falls, 
Jan. 24, 1833, Eliza M. King. He d. May 4, 1862. She d. 
July 5, 1882. 

Children. 
Frederick Mayor, b. Apr. 22, 1834, d. Mar. 22, 1905. 
Charles Haryey, b. May 15, 1836, m. Nov. 19, 1875, Amanda (Kelsey) 

Janes. 
Ada F. R., b. Nov. 15, 1841. 



PATTERSON. Rufus J. Patterson (Edgar, William, 
John), b. Nov. 19, 1834, m. May 26, 1863, Emily Stearns Boyden. 
Shed. Jan. 15, 1905. 

Children. 
*Ale.\ander Josiah, b. Aug. 8, 1865, m. Carrie M. Ames. 
Mary Louise, b. June 20, 1867, m. July 31, 1895, Albert C. Boyden. 

Alexander Josiah Patterson (Rufus J., Edgar, William, 
John), b. Rochester, N. Y., Aug. 8, 1865, m. Conway, Sept. 30, 
1891, Carrie Montague Ames. 

Children. 
F. Ames, b. Oct. 11, 1893, d. Oct., 1893. 



PAYNE. Zebulon Payne, m. Annie Bigelow. He d. 
Oct. 1, 1859. Shed. 1883. 

Children. 
VVashingtox, b. Feb. 15, 1822. 
*Zebulon, b. Apr. 30, 1824, m. Elizabeth Harris. 
Sarah Jane, b. Mar. 16, 1827, d. Nov. 9, 1827. 

Hilda ^L\ria, b. Jan. 25, 1829, m. Nov. 17, 1846, William W. Underwood. 
*SiLAS, b. Sept. 21, 1830, m. Alvira Elmer. 
Bexjamix, b. Jan. 31, 1833. 

Elizabeth Jane, b. Sept. 9, 1836, m. Jan. 23, 1866, John H. Elmer. 
Alonzo, b. July 3, 1839, m. May 17, 1860, Mabel Phillips. 

Zebulon Payne (Zebulon), b. April 30, 1824, m. Eliza- 
beth Harris. 

Children. 
Lorenzo W., b. Oct. 2, 1844. 

William R., b. 1849, m. Abbie E. Hicks and Rose A. Denton. 
Henry, b. May 21, 1851. 



322 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Silas Payne (Zebulon), b. Sept. 21, 1830, m. Oct. 4, 1854, 
Alvira Elmer. He d. March 27, 1889. 

Children. 
Frank M., b. May 4, 1857. 
George W., b. Feb. 1, 1859, m. Ella S. Quinn. 
Frederick A., b. Oct. 5, 1860, m. Dec. 16, -1882, Alvira Phillips. 



PEASE. John Pease (John, Pelatiah, Jonathan, John, 
Robert), b. Enfield, Conn., Aug. 23, 1777, m. April 25, 1799, 
Hattie Allen. He moved to Conway in 1800. He was a farmer 
and a common school and sacred music teacher. 

Children. 
Martha, b. May 19, 1800, m. Sumner Graves. 
John, b. Nov. 24, 1801, m. Louisa Bartlett. 
Miriam, b. Nov. 14, 1804, m. Lovell H. Oakes. 
David A., b. Dec. 9, 1805, m. Sophia Wilcox. 
LuMAN, b. Aug. 26, 1808, m. Gracia Hawks. 
Diantha, b. Feb. 11, 1810, m. Daniel Clark. 
HartF., b. Feb. 27, 1811. 

Maronett, b. Nov. 21, 1813, m. James Childs. 
Reuel, b. Oct. 6, 1815, m. Sarah Macomber. 

Solomon Pease (Reuel, John, John, Pelatiah, Jonathan, 
John, Robert), m. Jan. 17, 1871, Myra A. Taft. He d. Nov. 25, 
1908. 

Children. 
Ida F., m. Mar. 5, 1892, Orson H. Graves. 
Susie. 

Charles, m. Carrie Demming. 
Arthur, m. Mabel Stroud. 
George, m. Lottie Alden. 
Harry, m. Gertrude Brown. 

AsHER Pease (John, Pelatiah, Jonathan, John, Robert), 
b. Enfield, Conn., Sept. 21, 1781, m. Elizabeth Chaffee. He d. 

Nov., 1872. 

Children. 
Eliza, b. Mar. 21, 1802, m. Dec. 9, 1826. 

*Newton, b. Nov. 17, 1805, m. Sarah Dwight and Martha (Wilbur) Ogden. 
Maria, b. Nov. 30, 1808, m. Alvin Clark. 
Beulah, b. 1810, m. Josiah Dwight. 
Harriet, b. Oct. 13, 1813, m. David Valentine. 
Caroline, b. Mar. 1, 1816, d. Jan. 29, 1831. 
Loring, b. 1818, d. Feb., 1831. 

♦Franklin, b. June 27, 1823, m. (1) Minerva Nims, m. (2) Mrs. Sarah (Leon- 
ard) Hathaway. 

Newton Pease (Asher, John, Pelatiah, Jonathan, John, 
Robert), b. Enfield, Conn., Nov. 17, 1805, m. Nov. 26, 1833, 
Sarah Dwight. She d. Sept. 16, 1866. He m. (2), Sept. 22, 
1874, Mrs. Martha (Wilbur) Ogden. He d. Nov., 1901. 



F"AMILY GENEALOGIES. 323 

Children. 
Sarah Caroline, h. Dec. 9, 1834, m. June 18, 1862, Charles Oakes. 
Ellen Maria, b. Jan. 4, 1840, m. Oct. 7, 1869, William R. Purple. 
♦Harris Dwight, b. Apr. 13, 1842, m. May 14, 1874, Luella Jackman. 
Jane Eliza, b. March 3, 1844, d. Apr. 6, 1861. 
Henry Elbridge, b. May, 1846, d. young. 

Harriet Amelia, b. Jan. 5, 1849, m. May 14, 1874, Oramel G. Waterman. 
Gr.\ce, b. Feb. 15, 1877, m. June 29, 1907, Charles F. DeWolfe. 
Gertrude, b. Oct. 26, 1879, m. Oct. 9, 1902, Irying Camp. 

Harris D\vk;ht Pease (Newton, Asher, John, Pelatiah, 
Jonathan. John, Robert), b. April. 13, 1842, m. May 14, 1874, 
Luella Jackman. 

Children. 
Florence Mabel, b. Noy. 9, 1875. 

Harris Merrill, b. Aug. 8, 1882, m. May 27, 1913, Rena Maltby, Spokane, 
Wash. 

Hon. Franklin Pease (Asher, John, Pelatiah, Jonathan, 
John, Robert), b. June 27, 1823, m. Nov. 5, 1850, Minerva Nims. 
She d. and he m. (2) Jan., 1895, Mrs. Sarah (Leonard) Hathaway. 
He d. April 5, 1903. 



PECK. Simeon Peck (Simeon, Simeon), b. June 25, 
1825, m. Lucinda Allis. 

Children. 
Fannie, b. 1853, m. Oct. 1, 1871, Barron Stowe. 
*WiLLiAM, b. May 12, 1854, m. Mary Emma Bond. 
Simeon, d. young. 

*Charles, b. June 15, 1857, m. Nettie M. Irvine. 
Julia, b. Sept., 1860, d. July 11, 1880. 
Hattie, b. 1861, m. Dec. 13, 1882, Moses P. Stanton. 

William Peck (Simeon, Simeon, Simeon), b. May 12, 
1854, m. Dec. 25, 1878, Mary Emma Bond. 

Children. 
Mary Gertrude, b. June 23, 1881, m. June 23, 1908, Clarence A. Flagg. 
Clarence William, b. Dec. 8, 1884, m. Mar. 25, 1909, Myrtle A. Bliss. 
Newton Charles, b. Noy. 8, 1889, m. Sept. 15, 1915, Marion R. Jones-. 
Harry Raymond, b. Noy. 23, 1897, d. young. 

Charles Peck (Simeon, Simeon, Simeon), b. June 15, 
1857, m. Aug. 8, 1883, Nettie M. Irvine. He d. Dec. 22, 1916. 

Children. 
Eleanor L., b. 1884, d. Sept. 10, 1895. 
Lillian E., b. May 12, 1889. 
Harold I., b. Jan. 24, 1893. 
E. Gr.\ce, b. July 10, 1899. 



324 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

PHILLIPS. Simeon Phillips (Philip, Thomas, John), 
b. June 1, 1768, m. Ruth Andrews. She d. Dec. 11, 1851. 
He d. Oct. 16, 1854. 

Children. 
*James, b. Feb. 23, 1793, m. Mary Ann Wheeler. 
*Philip M., b. Apr., 1797, m. Dolly Carrier. 

Simeon, b. Feb. 22, 1815, m. Emily Irene Welton, Louisa Carrier, and Lucy 
Wade. 

Capt. James Phillips (Simeon, Philip, Thomas, John), 
b. Feb. 23, 1793, m. April 12, 1821, Mary Ann Wheeler. She d. 
Nov. 12, 1868. He d. Feb. 26, 1869. 

Children. 
*JosEPH Wheeler, b. Dec. 15, 1821, m. Celicia Rice. 
Harriet Parmelia, b. Sept. 15, 1834, m. July 6, 1854, Almon Parker Eldred. 

Joseph Wheeler Phillips (James, Simeon, Philip, 
Thomas, John), b. Dec. 15, 1821, m. July 1, 1847, Celicia Rice. 
She d. Feb. 6, 1883. 

Children. 
Charles Joseph, b. Apr. 2, 1849. 
James Andrews, b. Aug. 15, 1850. 

Philip M. Phillips (Simeon, Philip, Thomas, John), b. 
April, 1797, m. Dolly Carrier. She d. 1881. He d. Oct. 22, 1879. 

Children. 
Ruth, b. 1826, m. Dennis Lee. 

Mary J., b. 1838, m. Mar. 23, 1859, Emerson P. Markham. 
Julia, b. 1839, m. Nov. 24, 1859, Richard M. Tucker. 



PULSIFER— PULCIFER. The first of this name in this 
country was Benedict, who settled in Ipswich in 1662. His 
attack upon a party of Indians at North Yarmouth, Me., and the 
rescue of a prisoner precipitated the Indian wars in Maine in 
1688. 

Joseph R. Pulsifer (Elijah, Joseph, Benjamin), b. 1818, 
m. DeHa Newhall. She d. Feb. 16, 1884. 

Children. 
Emily M., b. Oct. 25, 1843, m. Nov. 27, 1862, M. E. Ballou. 
Anna Amelia, b. July 10, 1846, m. June 16, 1868, David H. Bidwell. 
♦William B., b. July 15, 1848, m. Nov. 23, 1875, Nettie C. Wilson. 

William Billings Pulsifer (Joseph R., Elijah, Joseph, 
Benjamin), b. July 15, 1848, m. Nov. 23, 1875, Nettie C. Wilson. 
Shed. 1898. He d. 1903. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 325 



Children. 
Ethel B., b. Sept. 17, 1879, d. Sept. 18, 1879. 
LouLA May, b. Feb. 17, 1881, m. Frederick Bates. 
Joseph William, b. Oct. 6, 1884, d. June 17, 1885. 
Leon Wilson; b. June 6, 1888. 



REDFIELD. Ebenezer Redfield (Capt. Peleg, Theophilus, 
James, William), b. Nov. 15, 1750, m. Jan. 14, 1774, Mehitable 
Dickinson. She d. May 7, 1821. He d. Jan. 4, 1823. 

Children. 
Joel Dickinson, b. Sept. 7, 1774, m. Mary Boyden. 
Rachel, b. July 21, 1776, m. Caleb Beal. 

Orrin, b. Dec. 31, 1780, m. Anna McCormack and Mrs. Elizabeth Carl. 
William, b. 1785, m. Rebecca Porter. 
*SiLAS, b. Sept. 16, 1787, m. Harriet Bartlett. 
Ebenezer Dudley, m. Mehitable Phillips. 
Sarah, b. May 8, 1789, m. 1807, Israel Beal. 
SoPHRONiA, ni. Aaron Hale. 
Nathaniel Peleg, m. Louisa Dickinson. 

Silas Redfield (Ebenezer, Peleg, Theophilus, James, 
William), b. Sept. 16, 1787, m. Nov. 25, 1812, Harriet Bartlett. 
Shed. Aug. 3, 1870. He d. July 20, 1839. 

Children. 
LuciNDA Glover, b. Sept. 16, 1813, m. Henry Wilbur. 
Joseph Bartlett, b. Jan. 20, 1816, d. Jan. 26, 1822. 
Eliza Maria, b. June 7, 1825, d. July 19, 1868. 
Harriet Janette, b. Mar. 17, 1828, m. David F. Elmer. 
Mercy Sophia, b. Sept. 8, 1830, m. Williard L. Nelson. 
Silas Bartlett, b. Sept. 20, 1835, d. Mar. 2, 1841. 

Lucy Cordelia, b. Dec. 24, 1838, m. Jan. 20, 1870, Chauncev G. Townsend. 
He d. Feb. 10. 1885. 



RICE. Edmund Rice, ancestor of the family in America, 
was born in England about 1594, came to America with his wife 
and seven children in 1638, and settled in Sudbury. He was a 
large landowner, his farm remaining in the family for many 
generations. 

Cyrus Rice (Josiah, Ephraim, Thomas, Edmund), b. 
Worcester, Dec. 10, 1726, m. May 27, 1750, Mrs. Elizabeth 
(King) Eaton. He m. (2) Oct. 19, 1767, Elizabeth Wright. 
She d. Feb. 16, 1779. He m. (3) Nov. 29, 1779, Mrs. Ruth 
Lamb. She d. Oct. 3, 1803. He d. Aug. 4, 1804. He was the 
first settler in Conway. 



326 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Elizabeth, b. Sept. 12, 1753, m. Samuel Crittenden. 
Sarah, b. Aug. 26, 1755, m. Samuel Daniels. 
Levina, b. June 28, 1757, d. Mar. 7, 1782. 
Cyrus, Jr., b. Aug. 10, 1759, m. Abigail Rice. 
JosiAH, b. Aug. 15, 1761, d. Oct. 9, 1776. 
Beulah, b. Jan. 10, 1764, m. Sept. 22, 1797, Bethel Benton of Ashfield. She 

was the first child born in Conway. 
Henry, b. Jan. 10, 1766, m. Zillah Rice. 
♦Stephen, b. Mar. 16, 1769, m. Mrs. Lucy (Baker) Harvey and Mrs. Abigail 

Hamilton. 
Lydia, b. Sept. 16, 1771, m. Russell Loomis. 
EzEKiEL, b. Jan. 21, 1774, m. Hannah BilHngs. 
Josiah, b. July 23, 1780, m. Polly Hamilton. 
Obed, b. Dec. 6, 1782, m. Sarah Kinney. 
Asa, b. Oct. 3, 1785, m. Relief Rice. 
Lavinia, b. Aug. 13, 1787, m. Walter Kinney. 



Stephen Rice (Cyrus, Josiah, Ephraim, Thomas, Ed- 
mund), b. March 16, 1769, m. Oct. 4, 1799, Mrs. Lucy (Baker) 
Harvey. Shed. Aug. 2, 1804. He m. (2) Feb. 27, 1814, Mrs. 
Abigail Hamilton. She d. Aug. 8, 1836. He d. Aug, 4. 1850. 

Children. 
Harvey, b. June 11, 1800, m. Fannie Rice. Was a lawyer and prominent 
citizen of Cleveland, Ohio. 

Jonas Rice (Jonas, Jonas, Thomas, Edmund), b. 1732, m. 
Worcester, Dec. 3, 1751, Bathshebah Parmenter. Removed to 
Conway after 1766. She d. May 3, 1817. He d. Nov. 1, 1824. 

Children. 
*JOEL, b. May 17, 1752, m. Lydia Farnsworth. 
Bathshebah, b. Apr. 4, 1754. 
Jonas, b. Oct. 5, 1756. 
Prudence, b. Apr. 14, 1768. 
Hannah, b. Oct. 1, 1771. 

Joel Rice (Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Thomas, Edmund), b. 
May 17, 1752, m. Lydia Farnsworth. She d. April 2, 1840. He 

d. Dec. 16, 1834. 

Children. 

*Calvin, b. Nov. 25, 1784, m. Ruth , m. (2) Betsy Hartwell. 

*Daniel, b. Oct. 22, 1777, m. Sarah Brown. 

Calvin Rice (Joel, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Thomas, Edmund), 

b. Nov. 25, 1784, m. Ruth . She died Oct. 2, 1807. He m. 

(2) Betsy Hartwell. She d. Sept. 30, 1850. He d. March 21, 
1865. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 327 

Children. 

Lucy, b. Aug. 8, 1814, m. 1837, James Parker. 

*JoEL, b. Oct. 4, 1815, 111. Mary Baker and Liicina A. Thayer. 

Zebina, b. Mav 26, 1817, m. Sally Dinsniore. 

S.\RAH, b. Mar' 13, 1819, iii. Lysander Hillman. 

Louisa, b. Jan. 29, 1821, m. Franklin Rice. 

Fidelia Dwight, b. Dec. 26, 1822, d. June 9, 1842. 

Mary Elizaheth, b. Dec. 19, 1836, in. Franklin B. Kingsbury. 

JoKL Rice (CaKin, Joel, Jonas, Jona.s, Jonas, Thomas, 
Kdmund), b. Oct. 4, 1815, m. June, 1842, Mary Baker. She d. 
Jan. 21, 1876. Hem. (2) Aug. 23, 1876, Lucina A. Thayer. She 
d. Nov. 9, 18%. He d. Oct., 1880. 

Children. 

Sarah Ann, b. Jan. 1, 1846, ni. Egbert Field. 
Lucy Parker, b. Jan. 7, 1848, ni. Cecil Field. 
*WiLLiAM Henry, b. May 15, 1850, in. Mary E. Hartwell, m. (2) Mrs. Fannie 

C. Hartwell. 
*James Brain'ARD, b. May 25, 1852, m. Cynthia E. Field. 

WiLLLVM H. Rice (Joel, Calvin, Joel, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, 
Thomas, Edmund), b. May 15, 1850, m. June 20, 1876. Mary 
E. Hartwell. Shed. June 16, 1895. He. m. (2) Aug. 13, 1895, 
Mrs. Fannie C. Hartwell. 

Children. 

Mary Letitia, b. Apr. 19, 1879, ni. Jan. 5, 1898, Joseph E. Turner. 

William G., b. Sept. 17, 1880, ni. June 3, 1908, Maud Walker Hartwell. 

Elizaheth, b. July 27, 1882, m. Jan. 3, 1905, Walter C. Thwing. 

Hartwell W., b. Sept. 9, 1885. 

Everett W., b. Apr. 18, 1887. 

Helen M., b. Xoy. 27, 1888. 

Robert H., b. Dec. 25, 1891. 

Austin, b. \oy. 17, 1894, d. Feb. 10, 1895. 

James Brainard Rice (Joel, Calvin, Joel, Jonas, Jonas, 
Jonas, Thomas, Edmund), b. May 25, 1852, m. Feb. 20, 1878, 
Cynthia E. Field. 

Children. 

Alice Elizabeth, b. .Aug. 19, 1880, m. Aug. 26, 1902, Walter Leroy Bradford. 
Ethel Cynthia, b. Aug. 8, 1882, d. June 17, 1883. 
Herman Brainard, b. Mar. 19, 1885. 
Leslie Smith, b. July 3, 1892. 

D.\niel Rice (Joel, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Thomas, 
Edmund), b. Oct. 22, 1777, m. March 3, 1802, Sarah Brown. 
She d. Dec. 23, 1867. He d. Sept. 10, 1867. 



I 



328 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Lydia, b. June 8, 1803, m. Benjamin Remington. 
Stalham, b. Nov. 25, 1804, d. Dec. 16, 1887. 
Charlotte B., b. Sept. 24, 1806, d. Sept. 16, 1886. 
Charlaine, b. Sept. 22, 1809, d. Oct. 3, 1888. 
*Champion B., b. Sept. 10, 1811, m. Lena Jane Mollis. 
Joanna, b. Sept. 16, 1813, m. George Hunt. 
Sarah C., b. Sept. 6, 1815, m. Erastus G. Harridan. 
Daniel, b. Apr. 15, 1818, m. Fannie Dean Tobey. 
SoPHRONiA, b. Oct. 6, 1824, m. Alonzo Graves. 

Champion B. Rice (Daniel, Joel, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, 
Thomas, Edmund), b. Sept. 10, 1811, m. 1837, Lena Jane Hollis. 
He d. Jan. 19, 1880. She d. Feb. 6, 1908. 

Children. 
Harlan H., b. Feb. 12, 1842, d. Aug. 18, 1858. 
*RoswELL G., b. Sept. 7, 1846, m. Sarah E. Allis and Anna C. Sherman. 

RoswELL G. Rice (Champion B., Daniel, Joel, Jonas, 
Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Thomas, Edmund), b. Sept. 7, 1846, m. 
May 15, 1870, Sarah E. AlHs. She d. Aug. 30, 1874. He m. 
(2) Feb. 26, 1879, Anna C. Sherman. She d. March 11, 1908. 

Children. 
Charles D., b. Aug. 28, 1874. 

Bertha M., b. Sept. 25, 1884, m. Mar. 14, 1914, Frank Trumble. 
Ruth B., b. July, 1897, m. Dec. 11, 1915, John Wasner. 

Joseph Rice (Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), b. 

May 24, 1712, m. Sarah . She d. Dec. 31, 1738. He m. (2) 

July 16, 1739, Hannah Leland. She d. 1794. He d. Feb. 12, 
1789. 

Children. 
Phineas, b. Sept. 2, 1735, m. Abigail Livermore. 
Elizabeth, b. Nov. 14, 1740, m. Benjamin Pulsifer. 
*IsRAEL, b. Nov. 10, 1742, m. Lydia Sherman. 
Sarah, b. Jan. 22, 1744, m. Henry Prentice. 
Hannah, b. Mar. 23, 1746, d. July 20, 1748. 
*TiMOTHV, b. Feb. 10, 1748, m. Mary Thwing. 
Daniel, b. Jan. 19, 1750, d. May 29, 1760. 
Caleb, b. Mar. 20, 1753, m. Lucy Leland. 
Hannah, b. Aug. 28, 1755, m. Josiah Brown. 
Mary, b. Feb. 16, 1758, m. Asa Cxoodale. 
Daniel, b. Sept. 11, 1762, m. Anna Holbrook. 

Israel Rice (Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), 
b. Nov. 10, 1742, m. Nov. 22, 1764, Lydia Sherman. He d. June 
10, 1833. 

Children. 
Caleb, b. Oct. 14, 1766, d. 1767. 
*Joseph, b. Dec. 2, 1768, m. Betty Dickinson. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 329 

Col. Joseph Rice (Israel, Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, 
Joseph, Edmund), b. Dec. 2, 1768, m. Jan. 16, 1790, Betty Dick- 
inson. She d. Dec. 25, 1843. He d. March 7, 1823. 

Children. 
Caleb, b. Apr. 4, 1792, m. Mrs. Mary Etta (Parsons) Stebbins. 
*AUSTIN, b. July 16, 1794, m. Charlotte Baker. 

Col. Austin Rice (Col. Joseph, Israel, Joseph, Phineas, 
Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), b. July 16, 1794, m. Oct. 23, 1822, 
Charlotte Baker. She d. Aug. 6, 1889. He d. July 15, 1880. 

Childrefi. 
Lois Wright, b. July 11, 1825, m. Thomas E. Hale. 
Charles Baker, b. June 29, 1829, m. Claire Austin Lord and Henrietta Hyde 

Stanwood. 
Charlotte M., b. June 15, 1835, m. Zeno Russell. 
Elizabeth Caroline, b. Feb. 13, 1838, m. Henry Tracy. 

Timothy Rice (Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, Ed- 
mund) b. Feb. 10, 1748, m. April 6, 1770, Mary Thwing. Shed. 
Aug. 23, 1825. He d. March 18, 1827. 

Children. 
*Daniel, b. June 28, 1771, ni. Bethiah Newhall. 
Isaac, b. Oct. 18, 1773, m. Anna Ware. 
Thankful, b. Sept. 24, 1775, m. George Stearns. 
Mary, b. Dec. 14, 1777, m. Consider Amsden. 
*Timothy, b. Feb. 14, 1780, m. Dorothy Newhall. 
Sarah, b. Feb. 14, 1782, m. Joel Stearns. 
Electa, b. Apr. 5, 1784, d. Sept., 1787. 
Elisha, b. Apr. 24, 1786, d. Nov. 14, 1805. 
Leonard, b. Aug. 12, 1789, m. Charlotte Billings. 

Daniel Rice (Timothy, Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, 
Edmund), b. June 26, 1771, m. March 10, 1796, Bethiah Newhall. 
She d. Feb. 12, 1860. He d. April 27, 1863. 

Children. 
*RoDOLPHUS, b. Aug. 1, 1798, m. Charlotte (Bond) Rice. 
Amanda, b. Jan. 10, 1800, m. Eliphalet Daniels. 
Electa, b. Apr. 11, 1802, m. Ruel Severance. 
Clarinda, b. Mar. 12, 1805, m. Ebenezer Bardwell. 
Bethiah, b. June 28, 1808, d. June 16, 1818. 
Emery, b. June 5, 1811, d. Oct. 26, 1816. 
Sarah, b. Sept. 20, 1813, m. Elisha Barnard. 

Rodolphus Rice (Daniel, Timothy, Joseph, Phineas, 
Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), b. Aug. 1, 1798, m. 1826, Charlotte 
(Bond) Rice. She d. Sept. 16, 1886. He d. July 20, 1881. 



330 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
Almaria Long, b. June 14, 1827, m. Jan. 4, 1849, Caleb Dickinson. 
Jane Amelia, b. Oct. 30, 1828, d. June 26, 1845. 
Albert, b. Nov. 5, 1830, m. Margaret L. Ames. 
Sarah, b. Aug. 19, 1832, m. Sept. 20, 1855, Joseph Eln.er Wight. 
Daniel Gilbert, b. Nov. 16, 1834. 
Edwin Rodolphus, b. Dec. 12, 1838, d. Mar. 23, 1863. 
*Charles William, b. Sept. 22, 1843, m. Martha J. Stearns. 
Walter Byron, b. Jan. 3, 1847. 

Charles William Rice (Rodolphus, Daniel, Timothy, 
Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), b. Sept. 22, 1843, 
m. Jan. 1, 1868. Martha J. Stearns. He d. Dec. 19, 1897. She 

d. Sept. 23, 1908. 

Children . 
Jane Amelia, b. Sept. 23, 1870, m. Nov. 22, 1893, Josiah D. Bovden. 
Luna, b. Julv 3, 1872, m. Aug. 12, 1896, Herbert Lee. 
Henry Dawes, b. Oct. 23, 1874, m. Oct. 1, 1896, Inez Crafts. 
Mary D.wis, b. Aug. 25, 1877, m. Apr. 25, 1901, John G. March. 

Timothy Rice (Timothy, Joseph, Phineas, Phineas, Joseph, 
Edmund), b. Feb. 14, 1780, m. Dorothy Newhall. He d. April 

19, 1850. 

Children. 
*Larned, b. Feb. 4, 1803, m. Miranda Colton. 
Elihu, b. Aug. 23, 1805, m. Lovilla Stearns and Aurelia Stearns. 
Jabez Newhall, b. Oct. 29, 1807, m. Sophronia Cobb. 
Lydia S., b. May 24, 1810, m. Eliphalet Daniels. 
Franklin, b. Oct. 30, 1812, d. Jan. 16, 1813. 
Timothy F., b. Nov. 29, 1815, m. Louisa Rice. 
Joseph, b. Mar. 1, 1818, m. Eveline Blood and Elizabeth Prescott. 
Mary A., b. May 8, 1821, m. William Colwell. 
KiNGSLEY, b. Sept. 15, 1824, d. 1825. 

Earned Rice (Timothy, Timothy, Joseph, Phineas, 
Phineas, Joseph, Edmund), b. Feb. 4, 1803, m. Feb. 28, 1829, 
Miranda Colton. He d. Nov. 28, 1884. 

Children. 
Louisa M., b. Mar. 20, 1830, d. Apr. 29, 1874. 
Juliette A., b. Fee. 22, 1832, d. Nov. 12, 1834. 
LuciLLA D., b. Mar. 17, 1838, m. June 5, 1878, John Degraff. 
William King-ley, b. Jan. 1, 1840, m. Caroline R. Sturtevant. 



ROGERS. Dr. George Rogers, b. Tisbury, Aug. 6, 
1779, m. Oct. 7, 1812, Calista Childs. She d. Sept. 9, 1850. He 
d. June 8, 1852. Came to Conway and married at the age of 28 
.and began to practice. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 331 

Children. 
*David Childs, b. May 25, 1813, ni. Amelia Ann Foote. 
Joshua Knowlton, b. Dec. 21, 1814, m. Parmelia Bartlett. 
Clarissa Dickinson, b. June 14, 1817, m. Rodolphus Clark. 
Edwin Clark, b. July 1, 1821, m. Sebuette S. Stephens. 
Calista Childs, b. Oct. 23, 1823. 
George, b. July 13, 1826, d. Oct. 11, 1844. 

D.wiD Childs Rogers (George), b. May 25, 1813, m. 
Nov. 28, 1838, Amelia Ann Foote. She d. Sept. 8, 1896. He d. 
Jan. 1, 1889. 

Children. 
Martha Ann, b. Oct. 10, 1839, m. May 18, 1864, Charles G. Parsons. 
Frances Nash, b. May 20, 1842, m. Apr. 21, 1880, William P. St. Germain. 
George Edwin, b. June 10, 1849, m. Clara Mary Clark. 



ROOT. Thomas Root, the emigrant ancestor was from 
England. He is found among the first settlers at Hartford, 
Conn. Was one of the petitioners of the town of Northampton 
and a settler there in 1654. Was one of the leaders in the church. 
Was a selectman. He d. July 7, 1694. 

[osEPH Root (Joseph, Joseph, Thomas), b. Northampton, 
July 13, 1686, m. Feb. 16, 1710, Mary Russell, Hatfield. She d. 
Jan. 27, 1738. He d. Feb. 9, 1728. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Apr. 30, 1711, m. Jonathan Billings and Samuel Montague. 
Joseph, b. June 16, MM, m. Abigail Bridgman and Mrs. Mary Bascom. 
*Jonathan, b. ¥eh. 1, 1716, m. Sarah Clary. 
Hannah, b. Mar. 2, 1718, m. John Gunn. 
EcNiCE, b. July 18, 1720, m. Caleb Montague. 
LvDiA, b. Mar. 12, 1722, m. Moses Clark. 

Deacon Jonathan Root (Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, 
Thomas), b. Hatfield, Feb. 1, 1716, m. Feb. 15, 1744, Sarah Clary, 
Sunderland. She d. Nov. 17, 1796. He d. Jan. 14, 1808, Conway. 
His children were born in Sunderland. 

Children. 
*Oliver, b. Dec. 16, 1744, m. Catherine Smead, m. (2) Merah Allen. 
Jonathan, b. July 16, 1748, m. Susanna Clapp. 
Sar.\h, b. Apr. 21, 1751, m. Job Bardwell. 
Dorc.\s, b. July 30, 1753, d. Oct. 25, 1800. 
Phineas, b. 1756, d. 1830. 

Oliver Root (Jonathan, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, 
Thomas), b. Dec. 16, 1744, m. Feb. 11, 1773, Catherine Smead. 
She d.Feb. 17,^1804. He m. (2) Dec. 4, 1805, Merab Allen. He 
d. Dec. 5, 1807. Was town clerk from 1783 to his death; was 
schoolmaster for manv years. 



332 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
*Abner, b. July 1, 1774, m. Dec. 6, 1808, Christiana M. Hall. 
Luther, b. Sept. 3, 1775, m. Jan. 14, 1800, Sally Hayden. 
LucRETiA, b. May 15, 1777, d. June 15, 1849. 
Susanna, b. May, 1779, m. Dec. 22, 1803, Julia Wright. 
Francis, b. Nov. 5, 1781, m. Cynthia Newhall. 
George, b. Mar. 25, 1785, m. Laura Parsons. 



Abner Root (Oliver, Jonathan, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, 
Thomas), b. July 1, 1774, m. Dec. 6, 1808, Christiana M. Hall. 
He d. Oct. 3, 1844. She d. Aug. 29, 1869. 

Children. 
Oliver Dean, b. Sept. 29, 1809, d. Apr. 19, 1828. 
*James Lincoln, b. May 29, 1812, m. Lydia Warren. 
Christiana, b. Sept. 28, 1814, m. Calvin W. EUinwood. 
Henry Francis, b. Nov. 15, 1816, m. Elizabeth Ann Hunter. 
Edward Warren, b. Mar. 15, 1820, m. Mrs. Mary Bunyan. 
Augustine, b. Felj. 5, 1824, m. Mary F. Stearns. 
Oliver Dean, b. Aug. 24, 1830, m. Mary Elizabeth White. 

James Lincoln Root (Abner, Oliver, Jonathan, Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, Thomas), b. May 29, 1812, m. Aug. 30, 1842, 
Lydia Warren. 

Children. 
James Francis, b. June 16, 1843, d. July 1, 1844. 
Edward Woolsey, b. Sept. 16, 1845. 
Mary Winslow, b. July, 1849, d. Mar. 9, 1851. 
Lydia Eldora, b. June 15, 1855. 



SANDERSON. Joseph Sanderson (Joseph, Joseph 
Joseph, William, Robert), b. Deerfield, May 4, 1772, m. Sept. 12 
1799, Content Dickinson. She d. May 10, 1867. He d. Dec. 1 

1848. 

Children. 
*DviGHT, b. Feb. 25, 1800, m. Betsy Hall and Priscilla Still. 
Joseph, b. Dec. 29, 1801. \ . 

i Elizabeth, b. Feb. 26, 1805, m. Stalham Allis. / ^^^ ' '^ 

IElecta, b. June 23, 1806, m. Mar., 1849, Oliver Field. "^4 '' 
Alonzo, b. June 24, 1808. 

Fidelia, b. Dec. 21, 1810, m. May 16, 1833, Otis Sikes. 
Sarah A., b. Apr. 30, 1813, m. J. Pomeroy Dickinson. 
Content, b. Nov. 1, 1816, m. Thomas C. Field. 

DwiGHT Sanderson (Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, 
William, Robert), b. Feb. 25, 1800, m. Aug. 10, 1826, Betsy Hall. 
She d. Aug. 26, 1853. He m. (2) Priscilla Still. She d. June 
16,1888. He d. Dec. 27, 1890. 



FAMILY GEXKALOGIES. 333 

Children. 
Sarah Adeline, b. Aug. 24, 1827, d. Apr. 27, 1902. 
Eliza Sears, b. Aug. 16, 1829, d. Julv 9, 1836. 
Ophelia, b. Feb. 2, 1832, ni. Feb. 6. 1856, Russell Bond. 
*WiLLiAM Darwin, b. Apr. 11, 1834, ni. Mary F. Dyer. 
Lot Harlan, b. Jan. 23, 1837, m. Lizzie E. Smith. 
Ellen Maria, b. Mar. 2, 1840, d. Aug. 30, 1853. 
Mary Elizabeth, b. Apr. 30, 1843, d. Sept. 6, 1853. 
Emma Dwight, b. Apr. 11, 1848, m. June 18, 1868, Albert H. Webber. 

William Darwin Sanderson (Dwight, Joseph, Joseph, 
Joseph, Joseph, WilHam, Robert), b. April 11, 1834, m. Dec. 9, 
1875, Mary Frances Dyer. He d. Feb. 25, 1888. She d. Nov. 
18, 1910. 

Children. 
Albert Dyer, b. Sept. 21, 1877, m. Edith Burpee. 
Darwin Fordyce, b. Feb. 18, 1879, m. Sylvia Parsons. 
Mary Frances, b. Aug. 20, 1883, ni. Harrv S. Elkins. 



SEFFENS. Daniel Seflfens, b. July 8, 1842, m. April 10, 
1873, Mattie L. Thwing. 

Children. 
Leon Henry, b. May 22, 1874, m. Anna Williams. 
Leroy Linwood, b. Mar. 12, 1876. 
Annie Maid, b. Sept. 7, 1880, m. Guy Tower and Fred Cousins. 



SHERMAN. There were seyeral early settlers in New Eng- 
land of the name of Sherman, three of whom first settled in Water- 
town, yiz.: Edmund, Capt. John, and Rev. John. Capt. 
John was a cousin of the other two, who were l)rothers. 

Caleb Sherman (John, Joseph, John, Joseph, John), b. 
Grafton, May 14, 1762, m. Aug. 17, 1785, Eunice Bacon. She 
d. Noy. 25, 1845. He d. Sept. 18, 1847. 

Children. 
Joseph, b. Feb. 25, 1786, m. Grace Ellis. 
John, b. Dec. 12, 1787, m. Mary Warren. 
Orra, b. Feb. 7, 1790, m. Calista Bigelow. 
William, b. Apr. 5, 1792. 
C.A.LEB, b. Dec. 14, 1794. 

Mary, b. Mar. 25, 1797, m. Bulfinch. 

Chh)e, b. June 10, 1800, m. Lvon. 

Lydia, b. Feb. 10, 1803. 

*Emery, b. Aug. 24, 1805, m. Emily Newhall and Ann Maria Pulsifer. 

Eunice, b. Apr. 17, 1808, m. William Forbes and Maj. John Tobey. 

F^MERY Sherman (Caleb, John, Joseph, John, Joseph, 
John), b. Aug. 24, 1805, m. 1826, Emily Newhall. She d. Sept. 
15, 1851. Hem. (2) May 12, 1853, Ann Maria Pulsifer. She 
d. Dec. 3, 1904. He d. Aug. 26, 1882. 



334 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Children. 
*0rra, b. Feb. 9, 1827, m. Caroline F. Hayden and Mary A. WiUson. 
Mary Ann, b. Oct. 13, 1828, m. 1847, Stephen Taber. 
Lydia, b. Sept. 24, 1830, m. Alfred Bartlett. 
Eunice, b. Sept. 17, 1832, d. Aug. 16, 1853. 
Emery, b. Dec. 18, 1835, m. Eva G. McKenzie. 
John Alonzo, b. May 22, 1842, d. June 3, 1843. 
Carrie Maria, b. Dec. 29, 1854, m. A. C. Arms. 
Anna Long, b. Jan. 17, 1859, m. Roswell G. Rice. 

Orra Sherman (Emery, Caleb, John, Joseph, John, 
Joseph, John), b. Feb. 9, 1827, m. Nov. 27, 1851, Caroline F. 
Havden. She d. Nov. 11, 1864. He m. (2) Jan. 28, 1869, Mary 
A. Willson. He d. June 11, 1909. 

Children. 
Emery L., b. June 22, 1870, d. July 1, 1870. 
Orra W., b. Dec. 3, 1871. 
Eva Emily, b. Sept. 26, 1875, m. June 7, 1899, Dr. William Darling. 



STEARNS— STERNE— STERNES— STERNS— STARNS. 

It is probable that all the families of this name in America are 
descended from three early emigrants. Charles Stearns, the 
ancestor of the Conway branch, resided in Watertown and was 
made a freeman in 1646. 

George Stearns (Jonathan, George, John, Charles), b. 
Milford, April 7, 1741, m. Oct. 29, 1765, Kezia Palmer. She d. 
Nov. 12, 1819. He d. Jan. 1, 1812. 

Children. 
Joel, b. 1766, m. Sally Hayden and Sally Rice. 
*George, m. Thankful Rice. 

*Darius, b. May 12, 1770, m. Margaret Broderick. 
*Abijah, b. Feb. 21, 1779, m. Polly De Wolfe, m. (2) Clara Burt. 
Beulah, m. John Newhall. 
Sally, m. Col. Jabez Newhall. 
John. 

George Stearns (George, Jonathan, George, John, 
Charles), m. Thankful Rice. She d. March 3, 1860. He d. 
April 5, 1856. 

Children. 
Gardner, b. Feb. 29, 1801, m. Nancy Green. 
Armenia, b. May 4, 1803, m. Kimball Batchelder. 
*George, b. June 3, 1805, m. Fanny Arms. 
Mollie, b. Mar. 4, 1808, d. Jan. 28, 1823. 
*Leonard, b. Oct. 7, 1811, m. Maria B. Bates. 
*WiLLiAM, b. Apr. 29, 1817, m. Sabra Bates. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 335 

George Stearns (George, George, Jonathan, George, 
John. Charles), b. June 3, 1805, m. Jiin. 1, 1834, Fanny Arms. 
She d. Dec. 18, 1884. He d. May 4, 1887. 

Children. 
Is.\BELLA Abbv, b. Jan. 1835, ni. Feb. 24, 1857, Nicholas Lester Green" 
G.ARDNER, b. Feb. 9, 1836. 

*Henry Ar.ms, b. June 17, 1837, m. Mary E. Rowe. 
Edg.\r, b. June 17, 1837, d. 1842. 

Cl.\r.\ Loi'is.\, b. June 13, 1843, ni. Sept. 25, 1866, Tyler Harding. 
Harriet E., b. Apr. 10, 1845, m. Oscar Belden. 
Fannie E., b. Nov. 21, 1847, ni. May 29, 1872, John R. Holcomb. 
Jennie M., b. June 8, 1853, m. Dec. 13, 1893, Dr. C. M. Barton. 

Henry Arms Stearns (George, George, George, Jonathan, 
George, John, Charles), b. June 17, 1837, m. Nov. 20, 1867, 
Mary E. Rowe. He d. Feb. 22, 1910. 

Children. 
Minnie E., b. Jan. 5, 1879, d. in infancy. 

Leonard Stearns (George, George, Jonathan, George, 
John, Charles), b. Oct. 7, 1811, m. Dec. 26, 1837, Maria B. 
Bates. She d. Feb. 4, 1901. He d. Sept. 1, 1884. 

Children. 
*jAMEs Madison, b. Jan. 3, 1840, m. Ellen Elizabeth Holcomb. 
William Harrison, b. Oct. 17. 1843, m. Mary F. Miller and Annette Irish. 
Ellen Maria, b. May 25, 1846, m. Rueben Belden. 
George Palmer, b. Feb. 22, 1851, m. Abby Delia Hill. 

James Madison Stearns (Leonard, George, George, 
Jonathan, George, John, Charles), b. Jan. 3, 1840, m. Oct. 4, 
1865, Ellen Elizabeth Holcomb. She d. May 21, 1915. 

Children. 
♦Clayton Ellington, b. Nov. 18, 1867, m. Mabel Maria Leach. 

Clayton Ellington Stearns (James M., Leonard, 
George, George, Jonathan, George, John, Charles), b. Nov. 18, 
1867, m. Amherst, Nov. 4, 1896, Mabel Maria Leach. 

Children. 
Carl Leonard, b. Oct. 2, 1897. 
Paul Sanford, b. Sept. 26, 1899, d. Mav 21, 1915. 
Margaret, b. June 27, 1902. 
Francis Elliot, b. Jan. 6, 1906. 

William Stearns, (George, George, Jonathon, George, John, 
Charles), b. April 29, 1817, m. Mav 10, 1849, Sabra B. Bates. 
She d. Aug. 25, 1908. He d. Oct.'l2, 1893. 

Children. 
Mary, b. Sept. 12, 1857. m. Melvin Alden and George H. Hart. 



336 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

Darius Stearns (George, Jonathan, George, John, 
Charles), b. May 12, 1770, m. Feb. 15, 1795, Margaret Broderick. 
He d. May 18, 1843. 

Children. 
Orrin, b. July 25, 1797, d. Aug. 2, 1824. 

Electa, b. Mav 7, 1800, m. Tilton. 

Lewis, b. Nov.' 12, 1801. 

LoviLLA, b. June 6, 1805, m. Pine. 

AuRELiA, b. Sept. 28, 1809, d. 1843. 
*Dennis, b. July 12, 1812, m. Sarah G. Baker. 
Sally, b. Sept. 2, 1815, d. Dec. 31, 1833. 
John B., b. Mar. 20, 1817, m. Mrs. M. S. Allen. 

Dennis Stearns (Darius, George, Jonathan, George, 
John, Charles), b. July 12, 1812, m. Sarah G. Baker. She d. 
Aug. 17, 1883. He d. May 14, 1895. 

Children. 
♦Austin Rice, b. Dec. 22, 1859, m. Anna L. Dickinson. 

Austin Rice Stearns (Dennis, Darius, George, Jonathan, 
George, John, Charles), b. Dec. 22, 1859, m. Aug. 21, 1890, Anna 
L. Dickinson. 

Children. 
George Austin, b. May 18, 1893. 
Harry Dickinson, b. Nov. 21, 1898. 

Abijah Stearns (George, Jonathan, George, John, 
Charles), b. Feb. 21, 1779, m. July 5, '1803, Pollv De Wolfe. She 
d. July 30, 1808. He m. (2) Dec. 4, 1808, Clara Burt. She d. 
Dec. 21, 1856. He d. Dec. 11, 1856. 

Children. 
Emily, b. Feb. 5, 1804, m. Josiah Boyden. 
*JoEL, b. Feb. 14, 1806, m. Philena G. Boyden. 
Polly, b. Jan. 7, 1808, m. Rev. Milo Frary. 
Charles Baker, b. Oct. 25, 1812, d. Feb. 27, 1846. 

Joel Stearns (Abijah, George, Jonathan, George, John, 
Charles), b. Feb. 14, 1806, m. Dec. 9, 1830. Philena G. Boyden. 
She d. Jan. 7, 1878. He d. Sept. 24, 1886. 

Children. 
Mary Ann, b. Mav 24, 1832, m. Nov. 26, 1857, Charles B. Merritt. 
Israel G., b. Oct. 4, 1834, d. Feb. 27, 1837. 
Philena, b. Oct. 8, 1840, ni. Jan. 24, 1866, Ba.xter Harding. 
Martha J., b. Feb. 3, 1844, in. Jan. 1, 1868, Charles W. Rice. 
John H., b. June 9, 1847, m. Ellen J. Hesco.x and May Rainer. 



STOW. Capt. William Stow (Daniel), b. Middle- 
town, Conn., 1773, m. Pollv Hu.xford. She d. Oct. 13, 1869. 

He d. Nov. 28, 1858. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 337 

Children. 
Angeline, b. Aug. 12, 1799. 
Heroine, b. Dec. 18, 1801, d. Jan. 15, 1877. 
♦Fr'^nklin, b. July 7, 1804, m. Sarah Baker Newhall. 
Henry C, b. Oct. 19, 1806. 
AcHSAH G., b. Apr. 7, 1812. 
Statira, b. May 7, 1814. 
William F. 

Franklin Stow (William, Daniel), b. July 7, 1804, m. 
Sarah Baker Newhall. She d. June 28, 1884. He d. June 6, 
1869. 

Children. 
*\ViLLiAM, b. Mar. 30, 1829, m. Lydia V. Townsend. 
♦Robert Hall, b. Mar. 28, 1832, m. Caroline Owen. 
Emogene Ildefonsa, b. Sept. 21, 1837, d. Sept. 4, 1851. 
Cleopatra Delmorea, b. Sept. 25, 1840, m. .Nov. 4, 1862, Warren Leach. 
*Barron, b. July 28, 1843, m. Oct. 1, 1871, Fannie Peck. 

William Stow (Franklin, William, Daniel), b. March 30, 
1829, m. Jan. 15, 1851, Lydia B. Townsend. 

Children. 
Effie Ildefonsa, b. June 28, 1852, m. Jan. 1, 1870, Charles D. Naylor. 
♦William Franklin, b. Apr. 22, 1855, m. Mrs. Fannie (Peck) Stow. 
Carrie Statira, b. Jan. 27, 1865, m. June 1, 1885, Hezekiah Simmons. 
Mattie •\lice b. Apr. 8, 1871, m. May 9, 1890, Edward T. Nye. 
Nellie Maud, b. Mar. 11, 1876, m. Feb. 13, 1892, Arthur Groves. 

William Franklin Stow (William, Franklin, William, 
Daniel), b. April 22, 1855, m. June 1, 1876, Mrs. P^annie (Peck) 

Stow. 

Children. 

Fannie Agnes, b. Mar. 10, 1877, m. Robert Burnham. 
Annie Louise, b. Mar. 14, 1883, m. Robert Gould. 
Bertha Elizabeth, b. June 4, 1888, m. George Nourse. 

Robert Hall Stow (Franklin, William, Daniel), b. March, 
28 183^ m. April 27, 1862, Caroline Owen. She d. June 30, 
1902. He d. Nov. 17, 1887. 

Children. 
Fred Newhall, b. Jan. 27, 1865, d. Dec. 7, 1874. 
George W'ashington, b. Feb. 22, 1867, d. Dec. 8, 1874. 
John Owen, b. June 15, 1870. 
Henry, b. Nov. 24, 1874. 
Daniel Newhall, b. Aug. 13, 1876. 
Victoria, b. June 17, 1879. 
Albert G., b. May 9, 1881. 

Barron Stow (Franklin, William, Daniel), b. July 28, 
1843, m. Oct. 1, 1871, Fannie Peck. He d. March 8, 1875. 

Children. 
Franklin Barron, b. July 11. 1873, m. May Fidelia Bartlett. 



338 HISTORY OF COXWAV. 

Frank Barron Stow (Barron, Franklin, William, Daniel), 
b. July 11, 1873, m. Aug. 10, 1898. May Fidelia Bartlett. 

Childroi. 
Barron Ralston, b. Oct. 26, 1899. 

SWAN. Guy Swan (Joseph, Benjamin), b. May 20. 1798. 
m. Aug. 27. 1831, Eliza Nims. She d. March 13, 1854. He m. 
(2) Lydia Palmer. She d. Oct. 30, 1873. He d. Aug. 28, 1872. 

Children. 
Abbie N., b. 1836, d. Oct. 22, 1862. 

THOMPSON. Jonathan M. Thompson (Joseph), b. 
1802, m. Gratia Field. He d. June 23, 1879. She d. March 16, 
1912. • 

Children. 
Marshall, b. Apr. 15, 1839. 
Myra, b. 1842, m. Henry Chadbourne. 
Mary A., b. 1844, m. John H. Wells. 
Margaret, b. 1849, m. Charles A. Kelly. 
Ella E., b. 1851, m. Rawson Adams. 
Joseph W., b. 1855, m. Musette Staples. 

THWING. Timothy Thwing (John, John, John, 
John, Benjamin), b. Mendon, Sept. 9, 1744, m. Sept. 21, 1771, 
Mary Rawson of Grafton. He d. Feb. 17, 1836. She d. March 
23, 1838. 

Children. 
Luther, b. Sept. 18, 1773, d. 1777. 

Rhoda, b. 1774, m. Feb. 25, 1796, Dr. William Hamilton. 
*Amariah, b. Sept. 6, 1777, m. Clarissa Chamberlain. 

Amariah Thwing (Timothy, John, John, John, John, 
Benjamin), b. Sept. 6, 1777, m. May 27,1804, Clarissa Chamber- 
lain. She d. March 9, 1866. He d. May 10. 1875. 

Children. 
Helena Frances, b. July 28, 1805, m. Col. David Wells. 
Luther, b. Nov. 2, 1806, m. Lucinda Andrews. 
Mary Ann, b. July 20, 1809, m. Richard xM. Sanderson. 
Rhoda Hamilton, b. Dec. 26, 1812, m. Alvin Hall. 
Alexander, b. May 5, 1814, d. Aug. 24, 1816. 
Clarissa, b. Feb. 1, 1817. 

LuANA, b. Jan. 4, 1820, m. Leonard Stebbins and Charles H. Munn. 
*Elbridge Gerry, b. Nov. 11, 1822, m. Esther Vincent. 
Edwin, b. June 3, 1825, m. Julia Hitchcock. 

Elbridge Gerry Thwing (Amariah, Timothv. John, 
John, John, John, Benjamin), b. Nov. 11. 1822. m. Sept. 29, 1842. 
Esther W. Vincent. She d. Oct. 29, 1889. He d. Nov. 4, 1889. 

Children. 
JMattie Lunetta, b. July 6, 1849, m. Apr. 10, 1873, Daniel Seffens. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 339 

TOWNSEND. William Townsend (George), b. Minot, 
Me., lulv 22, 1800, m. Trvphena Harvev. He d. Sept. 27, 

1868. 

Children. 
H.XKVEV, !). I'cl). V), 1S2';, m. Eunice Clark. She d. Apr. 1, 1W2. He d. Oct. 

19, 1916. 
Luther, b. July 1, IS.Sl, ni. Sarah Crafts, d. Jan 12, 1912. 
Lydi.\, b. Apr. 26, 1834, ni. William Stow. 
William, d. Feb. 9, 19 U. 
Ch.^uncey, b. 1838, m. Jan. 20, 1870, Lucy Cordelia Redfield. He d. Feb. 

10, 1885. 



TRUESDELL. Wilder Truesdell, m. Huldah Bigclow. 
She d. April 8, 1864. He d. May 5, 1861. 

Children. 
Gardner Wilder, b. May 27, 1822, m. Mellissa Stott. 
Huldah Suzannah, b. Sept. 11, 1823, m. Austin Hopkins. 
Mary Jane, b. Dec. 29, 1827, m. John Ingham. 
Rebecca S.\lina, b. Mar. 4, 1830, m. Sylvenus Sherman. 
Clarissa, b. May 20, 1832, m. George Peabody. 
Asabell Julia, b. Sept. 27, 1834, m. Lucius Wise. 
Mellissa Amelia, b. Nov. 22, 1836, m. Henry Dunbar. 
*George Lemuel, b. Jan. 20, 1839, m. Mary L. Lee. 
RosiNA Sylvena, b. May 20, 1841, m. Ransom G. Dunbar. 

Georce Lemuel Truesdell (Wilder), b. Jan. 20, 1839, 
m. Jan. 17, 1860, Mary L. Lee. She d. April 7, 1900. 

Children. 
Wilder, b. Alay 24, 1861, m. Nov. 2, 1889, Josephine McCormack. 
George, b. June 7, 1864, d. Nov. 22, 1874. 
Mary Alice, b. May 20, 1869, d. Oct. 23, 1874. 
Minnie Bell, b. Oct. 27, 1872, d. Dec. 4, 1874. 
Mary Jane, b. Dec. 3, 1875, m. Dec. 5, 1900, Edwin T. Cook. 
Rosabelle, b. Julv 31, 1877. 



TUCKER. Richard Tucker (John, Richard, John), 
b. Savbrook, Conn., Feb. 20, 1812, m. Nov. 11, 1831, Delia Rose 
Walden. She d. July 2, 1892. He d. Nov. 30, 1889. 

Children. 
Julia R., b. 1832, m. Chelsea Cook. 
David K., b. Mar., 1834, m. Mary A. Hutchinson. 
♦Richard M., b. Aug. 28, 1842, m. Julia A. Phillips. 

Richardson Madison Tucker (Richard, John, Richard, 
John), 1). Aug. 28, 1842, m. Nov. 4, 1859, Julia A. Phillips. 

Children. 
William Madison, b. Aug. 4, 1862, d. Jan. 21, 1863. 



340 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

VINING. Dr. David Taylor Vining (David, Asa), b. 
Hawlev, Mass., Oct. 19, 1821, m. April 18, 1849, Emily Sears. 
She d.'july 28, 1872. He d. Feb. 18, 1888. 

Children. 
Mary Emm.\, b. Oct. 7, 1858, m. Frederick Batchelder, Feb. 14, 1889. 



WARREN. One of the first settlers of Conway, Mass., buy- 
ing land here in 1762. Took his family to Conway, in 1766. 
Lived in that part of the town known as " Broomshire," the 
name originating from the walnut brooms which Mr. Warren 
made and sold in Deerfield; one broom for a pound and a half 
of pork. He was out of meat for several years during the winter, 
and took this means of supplying his need. He used to walk 
first to Deerfield to procure a horse and "pung" to carry his 
brooms. 

William Warren (Samuel, John, John, John), b. Grafton, 
May 29, 1740, m. Elizabeth . She d. July 29, 1813. He d. 

Nov. 20, 1822. 

Children. 
Lydia, b. Feb. 5, 1767, m. Sept., 1784, Nathan Bacon. 
Mehitable, b. Feb. 21, 1769, m. Aug. 22, 1793, Joel Bacon. 
Elizabeth, b. July 17, 1770, m. Eleazer Flagg. 
Tabitha, b. June 23, 1772, d. young. 
William, b. July 20, 1774, d. 1822. 
*Samuel, b. Dec. 18, 1775, m. Abigail Williams. 
Rebecca, b. Mar. 29, 1778. 

Philanda, b. Dec. 2, 1782, m. Parsons. 

Tabitha, b. May 25, 1785, m. — — Stearns. 
Mary, m. Milford. 

Samuel Warren (William, Samuel, John, John, John), 
b. Dec. 18, 1775, m. Abigail Williams. She d. Dec. 15, 1850. 

Children. 
Rebecca, b. May 27, 1804, m. Apr. 19, 1827, Timothy Packard. 
*WiLLiAM Warren, b. Oct. 28, 1805, m. Jane Bigelow. 
Ephraim Williams, b. May 24, 1807. 
Mary, b. June 30, 1809. 
Lydia, b. Feb. 1, 1811. 

Esther Packard, b. June 29, 1812, m. Alonzo Howland. 
Abigail Williams, b. May 9, 1814. 

Samuel Fletcher, b. Aug. 5, 1816, m. Lucretia . 

Moses Hallock, b. Apr. 2, 1821, m. Philinda . 

William Warren (Samuel, William, Samuel, John, 
John, John), b. Oct. 28, 1805, m. March 21, 1829, Jane Bigelow. 
He d. Feb. 4, 1851. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 341 

Children. 
Jane Elizabeth, b. Sept. 2, 1830, m. William C. Wilder. 
William Williams, b. May 7, 1833, ni. Maria Woodard. 
Franxis Henry, b. Oct. 2, 1838, ni. Minerva Ckiilford. 
Alonzo Harrison, b. Jan. 1, 1841, m. Nov. 15, 1866, Ella J. Ranney. 

WELLS. Benjamin Wells (Ebenezer, Thomas, Eben- 
ezer, Thomas, Hugh), h. Jan. 29, 1760, m. Feb. 11, 1781, Hannah 
Russell, m. (2) Jan. 20, 1801, Lydia Parsons. She d. Oct. 1, 
1825. He d. March 4, 1826. 

Children. 
*Zeeb, b. May 22, 1782, m. Lucinda Newhali. 
Henry, b. June 29, 1784, d. Apr. 9, 1852. 
John, b. Nov. 22, 1788, d. Julv 8, 1855. 
Orrah, b. July 16, 1791, d. Feb. 28, 1817. 
Ebenezer, b. Aug. 21, 1793, d. Aug. 12, 1803. 
Hannah, b. Nov. 16, 1797, m. Dr. Washington Hamilton. 
Russell, b. Jan. 6, 1800, d. Feb. 16, 1820. 
Caroline, b. Oct. 5, 1804, m. Gardner Dickinson. 

Zeeb Wells (Benjamin, Ebenezer, Thomas, Ebenezer, 
Thomas, Hugh), b. May 22, 1782, m. Feb. 13, 1809, Lucinda 
Newhali. She d. Feb. 13, 1867. He d. Nov. 17, 1862. 

Children. 
Charles, b. F~eb. 22, 1811, d. Nov., 1864. 
Ebenezer, b. May 26, 1813, d. Feb. 25, 1882. 
Lucinda, b. Oct. 22, 1815, m. Dec. 24, 1857, Alvin Dinsmore. 
♦Benjamin, b. Apr. 14, 1822, m. Lucy A. Morse. 
Marietta, b. June 13, 1824, d. Oct. 10, 1846. 

Benjamin Wells (Zeeb, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Thomas, 
Ebenezer, Thomas, Hugh), b. April 14, 1822, m. June 29, 1848, 
Lucy A. Morse. He d. June 25, 1876. She d. Jan. 5, 1915. 

Children. 
Gilbert M., b. Dec. 8, 1860, d. Apr. 9, 1865. 
William Henry, b. Sept. 5, 1862, d. Sept. 19, 1878. 
Francis Clary, b. June 19, 1863, m. Nov. 24, 1887, Minnie E. Leonard. 

Christopher Wells (Rodolphus), b. 1810, m. Louise M. 
Dickinson. He d. Oct. 15, 1863. 

Children. 
Christopher George, b. June 27, 1841, m. Dec. 25, 1870, Emma Seaver. 
Henrietta, b. Aug. 8, 1842, m. Albert Rice. 
Charles, b. Mar. 5, 1844. 

Gerry Sanderson, b. Apr. 14, 1846, d. Apr. 6, 1885. 
Elliot Washington, b. Aug. 29, 1853, d. Dec. 29, 1861. 



342 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

WHITNEY. John, the first of the name in America, was 
baptized in England July 20, 1592. Came to this country 
April, 1635, with his wife, Eleanor, and sons, John, Richard, 
Nathaniel, Thomas, and Jonathan, 

Capt. Jonathan Whitney (Jonathan, Jonathan, Benjamin, 
John), b. Milford, July 26, 1737, m. Nov. 7, 1760, Esther Park- 
hurst. He was one of the first settlers in Conway but removed 
to Milo, N. Y., in 1791, where he d. Aug. 22, 1792, and she d. 
Dec. 6, 1812. 

Children. 
Nathan, b. Oct. 18, 1761, m. Olive Whitney and Thankful Caldwell. 
Abigail, b. Mar. 12, 1764, m. Apr. 2, 1787, Simeon Anisden. 
Joel, b. Nov. 13, 1766, m. Sybil Whitmore. 
Esther, b. Dec. 16, 1769, m. Aug. 31, 1789, Solomon Gates. 
Experience, b. June 6, 1772, m. June 25, 1789, Immer Crittenden. 
Jonas, b. May 12, 1775, ni. Catherine Parker. 
Ami, b. Jan. 18, 1781, m. Anna Amsden. 
Parkhurst, b. Sept. 15, 1784, m. Celinda Cowing. 
Asa, m. Oct. 1, 1786, Lucretia Murphy. 
As far as I can learn the sons of Mr. Whitney went with him to Milo, N. Y., 

the daughters remaining in Conway. 

Gen. James S. Whitney (Stephen, Josiah, Josiah, Richard, 
Richard, Richard, John), b. South Deerfield, May 19, 1811, ♦ 
m. Somers, Conn., Nov. 23, 1836, Laurinda Collins. She d. 
1907. He d. Oct. 24, 1878. 

Children. 
Mary A., b. South Deerfield, Sept. 16, 1837. 

Henry M., b. Conway, Oct. 22, 1839, m. Oct. 3, 1878, Margaret Foster Green. 
William Collins, b. July 5, 1841, m. Flora Payne. 
Susan C, b. Mar. 24, 1845, m. Henry F. Dimock. 
Henrietta B., b. Apr. 6, 1847. 
Laurinda C, b. July 4, 1852, m. Charles T. Barney. 



WILDER. Thomas Wilder was made a Freeman at 
Charlestown in 1651. He was admitted to the church in 1640, 
and was the American ancestor of the Conway family. 

Samuel Wilder (Aholiab, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Thomas), 
b. June 20, 1752, m. 1772, Rebecca Nims. He d. July 21, 1819. 

Children. 
Ephraim, b. Feb. 12, 1773, d. May 26, 1775. 
Erastus, b. Mar. 3, 1775. 

Clarissa, b. Jan. 27, 1777, m. Samuel Truesdell. 
Rebecca, b. Mar. 12, 1779, m. Richard Sheldon. 
Consider, b. Oct. 1, 1787, d. July 12, 1817. 
*Israel, b. Oct. 16, 1789, m. Marv Childs. 
Electa, b. Apr. 10, 1792, m. Silas Bigelow. 
Samuel, b. July 25, 1797, m. Sally Merrill. 
Joshua, b. Sept. 7, 1799, m. Lovina Long. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 343 

Israel Wilder (Samuel, Aholiab, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, 
Thomas), b. Oct. 16, 1789, m. 1827, Mary Childs. She d. 
July 6, 1852. He d. Nov. 26, 1875. 

Children. 
*WiLU.\M C, b. June 25, 1828, m. Jane E. Warren and Sarah D. Fiske. 
*Samuel C, b. Apr. 17, 1830, m. Mary Partridge Allis. 
Mary S., b. Nov. 1, 1835, m. Sept. 9, 1852, Henry S. Swan. 
Francis E., b. Sept. 6, 1837. 
Israel Henry, b. Apr. 27, 1840, m. Mar. 7, 1864, Maria E. M. Graves. 

\\'iLLL\M C. Wilder (Israel, Samuel, Aholiab, Nathaniel, 
Nathaniel, Thomas), b. June 25, 1828, m. Sept. 9, 1852, Eliza- 
beth J. Warren. She d. Nov. 18, 1881. He m. (2) Dec. 31, 
1885, Sarah D. Fiske. He d. March 16, 1910. 

CJiildren. 
*Arthur William, b. May 28, 1855, m. Dec. 7, 1886, Minnie J. Bradford, 

m. (2) Ida \'. Thaver. 
Nellie Maria, b. Aug. 10, 1860, m. Mar. 12, 1901, luhvard II. Howland. 
Lottie E., b. May 2, 1864, m. Mar. 19, 1885, Frederick A. Davis. 
Lucy Ellen, b. Nov. 8, 1889, m. Frank Leonard. 
Lillian Grace, b. Nov. 8, 1889, d. Nov. 14, 1889. 

Arthur William Wilder (William C, Israel, Samuel, 
Aholiab, Nathaniel, Neithaniel, Thomas), b. May 28, 1855, m. 
Dec. 7, 1886. Minnie J. Bradford. She d. Feb. 17, 1889. He 
m. (2) July 24, 1901, Ida V. Thayer. 

Children. 
Evelyn L., b. Feb. 13, 1889. 

Deacon Samuel C. Wilder (Israel, Samuel, Aholiab, 
Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Thomas), b. April 17, 1830, m. March 3, 
1853, Mary Partridge Allis. He d. Feb. 14, 1917. She d. 
Oct., 1899. 

Childreji. 
Laura Alice, b. Sept. 8, 1855. 
Charles S. 
Henry A., b. Apr. 12, 1867, m. Jessie M. F"arrington. 



WING. Widow Deborah and four sons, Daniel, John, 
Stephen, and Mathew, were the first Wings to appear in America, 
landing in Boston June 5, 1632, from the ship "William Fran- 
cis." From the second son, John, came the Conway branch. 
The first to come was John, who was born in Harwich, May 8, 
1732, moved to Conwav in 1774. 



344 HISTORY OF CONWAY. 

John Wing (John, Ananias, John, John, Mathew, 
Godfriedus, Theodore), b. Harwich, May 8, 1732, m. 1773, 
Abigail Snow. She d. 1775. He m. (2) Abigail Isham. She d. 
He m. (3) Jane Truscott. He d. Dec. 7, 1822. 

Children. 
Peter. 
James. 
Eli. 

*ISAIAH. 

Bani. 

Nathan. 
Enoch. 
John. 
Peter. 

William. 

Oliver. 

Freeman. 

There were daughters in the family but their names are not mentioned. 

Isaiah Wing (John, John, Ananias, John, John), b. 
Harwich, July 26, 1761, m. Aug. 21, 1786, Zelanda AUis. She 
d. April 3, 1797. He m. (2) Sept. 6, 1798, Ruth Wood. She d. 
Dec. 26, 1807. He m. (3) Esther Clark. They removed to 
Oswego County, N. Y., and d. there. 

Children. 
Walter S., b. June 10, 1787. Was a physician. 
*Lucius B., b. Jan. 30, 1789, m. Elizabeth Page and Abigail Wilson. 
Mehitable, b. Dec. 4, 1790, m. Silas Sanderson. 
Achsah, b. Dec. 25, 1794. 
Zelanda, b. Mar. 28, 1797, m. W. Smith. 
Ruth, b. July, 1799, d. 1816. 
SoLOMOM, b. June 5, 1801, d. Aug. 5, 1803. 
Esther, b. Dec. 26, 1807, m. Isaac Miller. 

Lucius Bliss Wing (Isaiah, John, John, Ananias, John, 
John), b. Jan. 30, 1789, m. Oct. 10, 1819, Elizabeth Page. She 
d. March 20, 1822. He m. (2) March 10, 1824, Abigail Wilson. 
He d. April 1, 1871. She d. June 28, 1867. He was the only 
child who remained in Conway. 

Children. 
Francis Wilson, b. Feb. 7, 1825, m. Dec. 16, 1852, Marv Catherine Fry of 

Elkins Mills, S. C. 
Elizaheth Page, b. Jan. 7, 1827, d. Apr. 15, 1835. 
Sarah Fish, b. Oct. 10, 1828, d. Aug. 6, 1851. 
Laura Ann, b. Sept. 17, 1830, d. Dec. 11, 1856. 
♦George Bliss, b. Oct. 1, 1832, m. Oct. 24, 1860, Nannie Bovden. 
Esther Clark, b. Aug. 29, 1834, d. Sept. 16, 1862. 
Elizabeth P.\ge, b. Nov. 29, 1839, d. May 2, 1885. 
*Edward Everett, b. Aug. 10, 1836, m. Helen J. Newman. 



FAMILY GENEALOGIES. 345 

George Bliss Wing (Lucius, Isaiah, John, John, Ananias, 
John, John), b. Oct. 1, 1832, m. Oct. 24. 1860. Nannie Boyden. 
He removed to Tacoma. Wash., in 1892. where he now resides. 
His wife d. in 1910. 

Children. 
George. 
Walter. 
Gr.\ce. 

Edward Everett Wing (Lucius, Isaiah, John, John, 
Ananias, John, John), b. Aug. 10, 1836, m. June 1, 1859, Helen J. 
Newman. He d. Aug. 15, 1911. 

Children. 
Frederick Ll-cius, b. Aug. 8, 1861, m. Jan. 19, 1887, F"annie L. Hoi)kins. 

He d. June 13, 1890. She d. June 17, 1916. 
Frank Edward, b. June 27, 1865, m. Sept. 28, 1892, Edith May Smith, Athol. 
Laura Wilson, b. July 24, 1868, m. Oct. 18, 1893, Charles Lyman Parsons. 
George Homer, b. Apr. 9, 1870, m. Feb. 28, 1900, Laura Josephine Snell. 



* ., ., o ' aO' 



.0^ V 



aX^' -r. 













%' 



^^ . 









^,^' 



v^^^> 






^rv^ ^' 












./. * I) 1 \ - \V 



^^" '^^ 









■>' ^, 






v^\$i 



.^^^- ^ '. 









>0o. 












U ,xx^ 



.^•^ 



', ''^^'.^^ 



;^'^, ='^7:'^}^r n:^^'-'^ 



.^^ . - - ' 



:^ 



'^ ^^Hiiij^\.C ,<^ 



^,. .V 



w; ^"'^ 



-^^^^^^y^^' 



<^'- ^*^. --^ 









o^- 






'•^r. aX^ 



^ 



^> ^,~^W^\" A^' 



^r'^. ^^</^)^,^ 






■^^/r?5fe-. ^^.^ ^,y 









.' *^^r*. ' 






.>:^"' % 












xOo^ 


















'■^.,A 



^.c^' 









r' v^^ -"^^ 



Jt <. , V 






^0 O. 



,' r^0 






:/ 



V^' Z^^^' 





■%^^ -, '^■.^^- 




■.#^^-.,^3^/_/'< 




,\ =■.. "' .-- -1" , ,. 


.A 


<?\o 


i-*^ 


•bo^ :/ 



,^^ ^t. 



^ -n*-. ^ V 



' .0- -b. 



^V>C^^ ^ 



>' -^ 












'OO^ 










«^ t 












^0 O^. 



• ,0'^ 

,> .. 



c- 



'•^. * •' N ' 















^ > f^ "ii «. T-< 



^^.^' 

-S^'^ 













'X 


















O. ■'''/ 



•0' s' 









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 079 172 6 # 



